MARYSVILLE – The sentencing of a 16-year-old Marysville boy to just three months in juvenile detention doesn’t sit well with city Police Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux.
“The sentence is troubling, but not surprising,” Lamoureux said. “He almost killed somebody.”
The boy was high on cocaine when he accidentally shot a friend. He was sentenced June 9 to three months, along with 104 hours of community service, court records say.
The Globes-Times is not naming the boy because he was charged in Snohomish County juvenile court.
The boy shot friend Chris Franklin, 17, in the neck at a gathering in the 8700 block of 67th Avenue May 18, police reports say. Franklin has since recovered and participated in graduation ceremonies from Marysville-Pilchuck High School June 11 at Comcast Arena in Everett.
On the night of the shooting, Franklin was taken by friends to Providence Everett Medical Center and then flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries. The bullet nicked Franklin’s carotid artery and lodged in his spine.
The 16-year-old shooter twice kept Franklin from dialing 9-1-1 on a cell phone after the shooting, once in the apartment and once on the way to the hospital. The shooter also buried the gun at nearby Cedarcrest Middle School, but later retrieved it. The gun has since been recovered by police.
A SWAT team was brought in to catch the teen eight hours after the shooting, even using a “flash bang” in the process.
The boy was booked into Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett.
The teen originally pleaded not guilty, but changed it at sentencing in Judge Ellen Fair’s courtroom. Fair declined comment.
The 16-year-old has a history of violence. He served nine months in Denney for an unprovoked attack on a 12-year-old boy last year. The victim was knocked unconscious with broken facial bones. The convicted felon also previously was charged for taking a swing at a Marysville-Getchell High School security guard, who was trying to protect a student from being attacked.
“Especially looking at his background,” Lamoureux said, it doesn’t look like the juvenile justice system is holding the shooter accountable for his actions.
Deputy assistant prosecutor Julie Walters agreed.
“It’s not just for him. The law is lenient to all juveniles. The judge did what she could,” Walters said.
