The trigger was pulled 13 times, 34-year-old man died at the scene

When Seattle police officers pulled up to the scene just after four in the morning on July 28, less than a block away from MLK Jr. Memorial Park along South Walker Street in South Seattle, they found the victim. 34-year-old Johnathan Stutson was suffering from 10 gunshot wounds.

According to court documents, the suspect, 20-year-old Kahmari Hale, told detectives after exchanging heated words he aimed a Glock 9mm at Stutson, closed his eyes, pulled the trigger 13 times, then fled in a car. Police say firefighters couldn’t save Stutson and he died at the scene.

Hale is charged with second-degree murder.

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Approximately 20 minutes before the shooting, external video cameras from a nearby McDonald’s captured video of a red Kia Optima with Washington license plates in the drive-through lane. The driver was a female and the passengers included three men, according to court documents. Police say that moments later, other cameras from a nearby chiropractic clinic and private residences spotted that the suspect vehicle had driven to the nearby homeless encampment and stopped.

One of those cameras, according to police, captured a female voice yelling “Wake up” before the car left and drove off. Less than a minute later, the vehicle reappeared, and police say a camera captured a male-sounding voice saying, “We’ll air this b**** out”, which police say means they would shoot up the encampment. After, the car drove away from the encampment again and parked down the street.

Charging documents said the three men got out of the vehicle and walked back toward the homeless encampment. At the same time, police say the victim walked out of the encampment and the suspect and friends engaged him in a heated confrontation. Court documents said the victim could be heard standing up to the suspect in audio captured by a surveillance camera. Seconds later, that same camera recorded the sound of 13 gunshots while another camera showed the three men running back to their vehicle.

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Police say the suspect vehicle’s license plate led to a woman from Tacoma and a search of the woman’s Facebook page led detectives to the woman’s son and a younger female. According to prosecutors, the two were part of the group involved in the July shooting.

According to court documents, Seattle Police entered a “law enforcement caution” on the suspect vehicle for being involved in a murder. Prosecutors say Tacoma Police stopped the vehicle on Aug 2 for speeding and the driver was the same person detectives identified on Facebook. A week later, Seattle detectives say they received a call from that person’s attorney who wanted to scheduled an interview about the homicide. According to court documents, during the interview the client described the incident to detectives and said Hale brought the gun. Seattle police arrested Hale on October 29.

Court documents said Hale was read his Miranda Rights, then told detectives he was with several other people the night of the homicide. Prosecutors say Hale also said the group had been drinking for several hours and that everyone in the vehicle was drunk. He told them they parked the vehicle and went walking when a “homeless guy” approached them, and added, according to detectives, “He got too close for my comfort where I felt like he could harm me. So I had a weapon on me, and I used it.”

According to court documents, Hale told detectives he received the Glock 9mm, which was stolen, months earlier from people he didn’t know in Lakewood. Detectives say Hale told them the victim walked toward him and started moving his right hand to the side of his hip. Hale told detectives he was afraid, closed his eyes and shot the victim but didn’t know the victim died, according to court documents. Detectives say Hale then contradicted himself during the interview and said after the shooting he went home and cried for two days because no one is supposed to take a life, court documents say.

Police say there is no connection between Hale and the victim. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov 14. Prosecutors say they have not yet received criminal referrals for anyone other than Hale.

Luke Duecy is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Luke’s stories here. Follow Luke on X, or email him here.