Man pleads guilty to August 2023 murder in Federal Way
Published 7:30 am Friday, November 21, 2025
A Pacific man who shot and killed another at the Campus Green Apartments in August 2023 pleaded guilty to the crime of second-degree murder and now faces up to almost 27 years in prison.
On Nov. 13, PJ Langu, 22, of Pacific, pleaded guilty to the crimes of second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Langu’s charges stem from an Aug. 7, 2023, incident at the Campus Green Apartments, 423 S. 325th Place in Federal Way, where Langu shot and killed Tevin Kamau, who was 23 at the time of his death. According to charging documents, Langu is accused of shooting Kamau twice in the chest with a handgun at point-blank range prior to fleeing the scene.
Prosecutors recommended that Langu receive 225 months in prison for second-degree murder and 41 months for first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, with both sentences to run at the same time. Additionally, Langu must serve a mandatory sentence enhancement of 48 months, making Langu’s total recommended sentence 273 months — nearly 23 years.
With prior charges of second-degree assault and first-degree burglary, Langu’s offender score for the crime of second-degree murder is five. With an offender score of five, accounting for the mandatory 48-month sentence enhancement, the lowest sentence Langu could receive is 223 months — about 18 and a half years — and the highest sentence he could receive is 323 months — almost 27 years.
Langu’s sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
Details of the case
At about 10:40 a.m. Aug. 7, 2023, Federal Way officers responded to an apartment complex in the 400 block of South 325th Place after receiving a report of a shooting. According to documents, officers arrived on the scene to find Kamau with gunshot wounds to his chest, abdomen and wrist at the front entrance of an apartment unit.
Officers started life-saving efforts on Kamau, the victim of the shooting, as South King Fire personnel arrived on scene and transported him to Harborview Medical Center. Harborview Medical Center pronounced Kamau deceased at approximately 12:24 p.m., according to documents.
Surveillance footage shows Kamau stepping outside the apartment unit to talk to two men prior to the sound of two gunshots, with one of the men, identified as Langu, seen extending his arms and pulling them back. According to documents, after the shooting, the two men walk from the view of the camera into the parking lot.
Documents state that officers located a subject matching the descriptions of Langu at around 11 a.m. and detained him, discovering a handgun identical to the handgun in his backpack as seen in the surveillance footage. A criminal history check showed Langu held three prior convictions for felonies, including assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree and burglary in the first degree, all of which prohibited him from possessing a firearm.
The King County Superior Court set Langu’s bail at $5 million as prosecutors requested at Langu’s first appearance hearing on Aug. 8, 2023. According to charging documents, when the crime occurred, Langu recently fled from a rehabilitative youth facility where he was serving a sentence for convictions of burglary in the first degree and assault in the second degree.
