Ballard HS student says he ‘had to shoot’ Greenwood victim
Mar 5, 2014, 11:41 AM | Updated: Mar 6, 2014, 5:20 pm
David Peterson, 54, was found dead from a single gun shot wound to the chest in a parking lot in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood on Feb. 23. (Photo: KIRO Radio/Brandi Kruse)
(Photo: KIRO Radio/Brandi Kruse)
A Ballard High School senior has been charged as an adult in the Feb. 23. shooting death of a man in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle.
Byron K. A. White, 17, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder, attempted robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Prosecutors have asked that he be held on $2 million bail.
According to court documents, White confessed to killing 54-year-old David Peterson in an attempt to steal his cell phone, but later complained to friends the phone “was not as nice as he had hoped.”
Peterson was out for an evening walk that night when he called 911 around 8:27 p.m. to report that he was the victim of an attempted robbery. While on the phone with dispatchers, the suspect returned.
“We heard the victim in his own voice talking about the incident,” said homicide Det. Cloyd Steiger, who led the investigation for the Seattle Police Department. “He said that the guy was coming back toward him and then there’s a scuffle and the phone went dead.”
Peterson died at the scene of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
According to court documents, White later told friends that Peterson had seen his face and he “had to shoot him.”
“David Peterson went out for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner and never returned,” said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. “He was a random victim from a chance encounter with a dangerous young man. That the evidence shows he was murdered for his cell phone by a teenager with a gun makes this all the more tragic and senseless.”
If convicted as charged, White faces a standard range of 27 to 35 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
