Another family is mourning the loss of a husband, father, brother and son in Federal Way.
Just one week after his wife gave birth to their second child, 33-year-old Dennis Sloboda was shot and killed Monday night. He was found in a vehicle in the 32800 block of Hoyt Road Southwest after officers responded to reports of gunshots.
Federal Way police are searching for a suspect they believe was involved in a road rage incident that led to the Federal Way resident’s death. However, police could not provide a description of the suspect or vehicle as of Tuesday morning.
Dennis Sloboda’s brother, Anton Sloboda, was with him just hours before the murder.
“He had his best life right now,” he said. “Ever since he got married in March, he had a baby last week and his wife was in the hospital and he was on his way to the hospital.”
Anton Sloboda said his brother came to his house in Browns Point Monday night to prepare for a new job as a limousine driver he was supposed to start on Tuesday.
But when he got there, he revealed a man had pulled a gun on him. The confrontation was sparked after the man allegedly cut Dennis Sloboda off, nearly hitting him with his car. Dennis Sloboda said he stopped at a stop sign to figure out what was going on when he and the man, who appeared to be of Asian descent, got into an argument.
It was then the suspect pulled a gun on him.
“He’s like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! You want to shoot me? You want to shoot me? Go ahead!'” Anton Sloboda said. “He just kind of warned him; he didn’t shoot him.”
Anton Sloboda said his brother left the area and drove back roads and around a church to “lose the guy.”
“But I guess he didn’t lose the guy,” he said. “He got to the house and said, ‘There’s the guy right there.’ He was walking toward us.”
The suspect had parked his car at the Browns Point Diner parking lot. The two went up to the balcony and Dennis Sloboda pointed out the suspect.
“It was kind of dark. I couldn’t really look from afar who the guy was,” he said. “I just saw a white shirt. He was wearing like a long shirt, like a coat, and white jeans. He was wearing white clothes and was just kind of walking away, and then he shows some kind of wave, some kind of gestures, some kind of hand gestures.”
Anton Sloboda said he doesn’t know if the hand gestures were gang-related or if he was waving a gun.
Dennis Sloboda had wanted to borrow his brother’s gun for protection, but Anton Sloboda convinced him to stay with him a while before leaving to visit his wife and newborn.
“I have a registered gun, I’m not gonna give you anything. It’s in the safe, and I was like, ‘You have a family, you have a kid, you’ve got to be a father. Just wait around,'” Anton Sloboda said. “So he listened to me.”
Right before Dennis Sloboda left, Anton Sloboda noticed something wasn’t right. He saw his brother sit down for a few minutes, thinking about something.
“It seemed like he was stressing out about something, about that guy, kind of worrying, for sure,” he said.
Dennis Sloboda never made it to the hospital. After police found the vehicle he was driving, they called his wife because it was listed in her name. Anton Sloboda said they didn’t give her any information, but because her husband was so late, she began to worry. She was able to track Dennis Sloboda’s phone to a location to which his other brother “flew” as fast as he could.
Once there, their brother saw police cars and caution tape everywhere. It was around 1 a.m.
“It looks like the guy was chasing him and he started firing at him, I guess from the back, and he shot like six times around 10:25 p.m.,” Anton Sloboda said, noting the car Dennis Sloboda was driving was shot multiple times. “Some neighbors heard the gunshots and called police.”
Anton Sloboda set up a gofundme.com account to raise money for his brother’s family – his wife, newborn and 5-year-old son.
The crowd-funding website had raised $15,430 of its $35,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.
“My brother, he knew Jesus and I know where he went, but that guy… If he’s not gonna repent and believe in God and Jesus, he’s gonna end up in a very bad place,” Anton Sloboda said. “I know it might sound strange, but that’s my personal conviction.”
Dennis Sloboda’s death is the eighth homicide involving a gun in Federal Way this year.
On Saturday night, a man shot and killed his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself in the 31700 block of 3rd Place Southwest. The suspect was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. The victim had a protective order against the suspect at the time she was killed. The two have children in common.
On Aug. 19 , Deverrion L. Barber, 24, was killed in the 28600 block of 25th Place South, just east of the Villa Capri Apartments. Several witnesses saw two suspects flee the scene, but police have yet to make any arrests.
Three murders occurred within 48 hours in May after one in April. The first of 2016 happened in February.
To donate to the Sloboda family, visit www.gofundme.com/2rhy778
The investigations into Dennis Sloboda’s murder, as well as into others, are ongoing. Anyone with information on any of these crimes is encouraged to contact the Federal Way Police Department at 253-835-2121 or on the department’s anonymous tip website, www.safecityfw.com.
