2 teens charged with fatal shooting at Tacoma marijuana dispensary — warrants issued
Two teenage boys are wanted in connection with a fatal shooting at a Tacoma marijuana dispensary and at least 10 armed robberies at pot shops in Pierce and King counties.
Warrants have been issued for Montrell Hatfield, 16, and Marshon Jones, 15, who are not in custody.
Pierce County prosecutors have charged Hatfield with first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Jones has also been charged.
Prosecutors say they expect to file charges against the teens in the future for four marijuana dispensary robberies in Tacoma and one in Pierce County. They are also suspected in five similar robberies in King County.
A third man who acted as their lookout while they robbed the stores at gunpoint has not been identified.
Police described the teens as dangerous and asked anyone who sees them or knows where they are to call 911. Hatfield and Jones most recently held up a dispensary in the 3200 block of East Portland Avenue on March 19, police said.
During that incident, Hatfield fought with an employee behind the cash register and Jones fatally shot the employee in the neck, according to court documents.
Medical examiners identified the employee killed in the shooting as Jordan Brown, 29, from Gig Harbor.
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Charging papers give this account of the homicide: The teens walked into the store just after 10 p.m. March 19 wearing hoodies cinched over their faces with shoe laces. After ordering everybody to get on the ground, Hatfield allegedly fired a warning shot into the ceiling and approached the manager and other employees.
He handed them garbage bags and ordered them to put all the money inside. Brown tossed the garbage bag back at Hatfield, put his hands in the air and stepped backward, records say.
Hatfield and Brown then began fighting on the ground, according to witnesses and surveillance footage.
Jones allegedly broke up the fight by shooting Brown in the neck. As the teens ran for the door, Jones told Hatfield “Don’t worry about them,” records say.
Surveillance cameras in the rear parking lot of the dispensary showed Hatfield, Jones and an unidentified man running from the scene.
Detectives noticed an “oddity” in Hatfield’s gait and on surveillance footage saw a prosthetic leg beneath his pants as he fought with Brown.
Knowing there had been a string of robberies at local pot shops with similar circumstances, Tacoma police began comparing surveillance footage.
They discovered the suspects fit the same description and occasionally wore the same clothing.
On the day Brown was killed, Hatfield and Jones allegedly robbed a marijuana dispensary in Seattle four hours prior and tried to rob one in Tacoma less than an hour beforehand but were stopped by an employee who shut the door and prevented them from coming inside.
Police were able to identify the teens because they had been arrested Feb. 22 after allegedly robbing a pawn shop in Federal Way. They were released from jail and placed on home detention.
On March 16, three days before the fatal shooting, Hatfield and Jones cut off their home detention monitoring devices. Warrants were issued for them escaping home detection but they have not yet been located.
The teens are both described as Black. Hatfield is 5-feet-5 and 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has a prosthetic right leg that causes him to limp. Jones is 5-feet-8 and 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He has distinctive bushy eyebrows.
This story was originally published by the News Tribune.