Arrest made in fatal Bellevue Munchbar shooting
Jan 3, 2013, 2:01 AM | Updated: 10:49 am
The exterior of the Munchbar, where tables are seen overturned and debris strewn about, is photographed Monday, Dec. 24, 2012, in Bellevue, Wash. A 30-year-old Seattle man was killed and another man wounded in a shooting at the crowded bar earlier in the morning about 10 miles east of Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Bellevue police say a man charged in a fatal Christmas Eve bar shooting has been arrested during a traffic stop in the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood, Wash.
Police spokeswoman Carla Iafrate says Ja’Mari Alexander Jones was arrested Wednesday night after Lakewood officers randomly ran the license plate of a car that turned out to be stolen.
Jones is the suspected gunman in fatal shooting at the Munchbar in Bellevue, early on Monday, Dec. 24. More than 600 people were at the bar when the shooting occurred, many who were celebrating the Seahawks victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
As chaos broke out, 30-year-old DeShawn “D.Mill” Milliken of Seattle was killed.
Milliken was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man was rushed to Overlake Medical Center, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the hand. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Milliken died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Jones, 19, has been booked into the King County Jail on a second-degree murder charge with bail set at $5 million. A 20-year-old woman arrested with him was booked for investigation of rendering criminal assistance.
Detectives don’t know what relationship, if any, Jones and Milliken had before the shooting, but it’s looks from the surveillance video like they appear to recognize each other.
Milliken worked with at-risk youth in Seattle’s Central District.
Jones is one of the three teens who beat Ed “Tuba Man” McMichael to death outside Seattle Center in 2008.
Jones, Billy Chambers and Kenneth Kelly all served about 36 weeks in juvenile detention for the murder.
That was all the time prosecutors could get because no witnesses to the beating came forward. The lack of time has always bothered McMichael’s family.
“I didn’t get that feeling that they were remorseful for what they had done,” Kelsey McMichael, brother of Ed previously told KING 5.
Since Tuba Man’s murder, the three teens have all continued to get into trouble.
Kelly and Chambers have faced weapons charges and been in jail for assault.
“We always thought the punishment they received for killing my brother was much too light,” McMichael previously told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.
Since Jones’ bail has already been set at $5 million, he will likely appear before a judge next week.
Meanwhile, the owners of Munchbar and Mirror Lounge have decided to not reopen their doors. The bar has been closed since the shooting. Owners announced their plans to not reopen on Thursday, saying “this would be best for the community, guests and the families involved.”
The Associated Press, KIRO Radio reporters Chris Sullivan and Brandi Kruse contributed to this report.
