Man who went on 2022 violent crime spree in West Seattle sentenced to 60 years
Oct 30, 2023, 5:40 PM
A Seattle Police Department vehicle. (Photo courtesy of the Seattle Police Department)
(Photo courtesy of the Seattle Police Department)
Jaycee Thompson, a man who went on a crime spree in Seattle’s West Seattle neighborhood in June 2022, was sentenced to 59 years and 10 months in prison Friday.
According to King County prosecutors, Thompson’s “multi-location violent crime spree” began late on June 19, 2022 in the Delridge neighborhood when he used a “pistol-grip shotgun” in an attempted robbery of his friend. He eventually struck his friend, the victim, with the gun. Thompson then drove a suspected stolen van to a nearby homeless encampment, entered an RV and shot another victim in the stomach with the shotgun.
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Harborview Medical Center emergency trauma doctors were able to save the life of the victim living in the RV.
Thompson then drove to a Delridge encampment where he “kidnapped an acquaintance at gunpoint,” prosecutors’ documents read, according to KOMO News. He took the kidnapped victim into another shelter within the encampment.
“Once there, he murdered a man,” prosecutors’ documents continued, KOMO News reports. “Shooting him as he sat on his bed.” The victim killed was later revealed to be Anthony Gonzalez. The shooting occurred near 26th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Juneau Street shortly after midnight.
Officers from the Seattle Police Department arrested Thompson two days later after he returned to the crime scene. He was driving the same van believed to be used during the crime spree, which police believed was stolen.
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A jury found Thompson guilty on Oct. 11. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree attempted robbery, four counts of first-degree attempted murder and five counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to court documents.
As of September, this was the 59th violent crime the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office resolved through trial this year, according to KING 5, with 17 of those being murder trials.
