Two gang members, others arrested in July 5 Federal Way shooting

Published 5:31 pm Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Federal Way police have arrested four people, two of them known gang members, who were allegedly involved in the shooting of a 38-year-old man in the early morning hours of July 5.

The victim, Sunrah Starling, is still listed in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. Detectives have not been able to interview him as he’s been intubated since being shot multiple times last week.

According to police interviews, Starling and his family were walking into his sister’s house to celebrate the Fourth of July. Before reaching the front door, however, he got into a fight with four males between the ages of 23 and 32. Three of those males were arrested, with one listed as a suspect, and the fourth arrest is that of a family member of the victim who allegedly tried to destroy video surveillance footage of the shooting.

The Starlings’ 12-year-old son told police his father lit a firecracker and then started talking to four males before they entered his aunt’s house.

“He believed the males were mad at his father for lighting the firecracker,” the police report states.

The victim’s sister told police that, as she answered her door to let her family in, Starling had a bloody nose and he exclaimed, “They jumped me!”

The police report states Starling and his family said the suspects asked who they were, and an argument stemmed from “who lived where.”

A little while later, Starling, his fiancée and his children walked to the car, which was when the suspects and Starling began to argue again. The argument turned into another fight, and the victim’s fiancée and 12-year-old child were hurt as they tried to help.

It is not clear what led to the fight.

A witness told police that, when the fight ended, one of the suspects pulled out a silver and black handgun. The victim’s sister then told the suspects to leave and they did.

But they didn’t go very far.

Thinking the suspects were gone, Starling and his family walked outside again to retrieve a diaper bag. According to the victim’s fiancée, the same male who initially pulled out the gun returned to the front door, now with a blue bandana over his face, and yelled for the victim to “watch out.” He then raised a gun and shot Starling multiple times. The fiancée told police she saw him fall to the ground as she hid behind a nearby car.

The victim’s sister didn’t immediately understand her brother had been shot, thinking instead that the gunfire sounds were fireworks. But she came out of her room and discovered him lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

The victim’s mother called police to report the incident, telling officers that she’d also seen the suspects kick open her son’s vehicle’s trunk and steal items from within. She also told police that one of the suspects told her that Starling had “disrespected his family.”

Starling sustained four gunshot wounds, but it’s unknown if they were all entry or a combination of entry and exit wounds. He had three wounds to his left thigh, and the bullets pierced his shoulder and damaged his large intestine, small intestine, stomach, lungs and organs.

The victim’s family recognized one of the suspects as a peer with whom they’d attended school. Police identified that man as a known Hoover gang member.

Detectives gathered descriptions from witnesses on the other suspects. The victim’s fiancée showed the detective a rap video featuring one of the suspects, whom she identified as the person who punched her and who was with the shooter. Police also identified him as a known Hoover gang member.

Detectives then had the fiancée watch more YouTube videos that featured Hoover gang members rapping and displaying firearms. Two of the suspects were in the videos, and police determined the “likelihood of the other suspects being identified was high.”

The fiancée, once again, identified a third suspect. Police noted this suspect was a person of interest in the May 13, 2014, Federal Way homicide of George Gabriel Jr., a U.S. Marine, but he was never arrested. Police arrested the suspect, who they believe shot Starling, at his restaurant job in Seattle. The suspect’s Department of Corrections officer, who currently supervises the suspect, confirmed his identity. A search of the suspect, his house and his vehicle turned up body armor, .380 Hornady auto ammunition, a shoulder holster, magazine pouches, pepper spray and an extended magazine with live .380 bullets in it.

Detectives also saw a fresh cut on the suspect’s forehead, a wound witnesses said he sustained during the fight at Starling’s sister’s house.

Police are recommending the King County Prosecutor’s Office charge the suspects with a variety of charges ranging from first-degree assault to unlawful possession of a firearm.