Prosecutors: Kent shooter was looking for a fight

Prosecutors said a 29-year-old man charged Monday with the murders of two Kent gas station employees had threatened a driver with a gun hours before the killings and he was looking for a fight.

Leland Dean Russell, Jr. was under investigation for chasing a driver while wielding a gun around 7 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, according to charging documents. The victim told police that Russell chased her car and pointed a gun at her after she honked at him. She was able to speed away.

Prosecutors said this type of behavior is not new for Russell. He’s been investigated twice in the last few years for confronting motorists. They added that Russell was intent on creating a situation where he could use his gun.

Surveillance video from the Shell gas station showed Russell and another man arrived in a black Cadillac, eventually re-parking the car in a diagonal direction and blocking gas pumps. Witnesses reported to police that the two men were rude and combative with customers.

The store manager asked the two men to leave, but Russell’s companion got into a fight with one of the gas station employees, according to court documents. A second employee stepped in to break up the fight. At that point, Russell grabbed a gun from the Cadillac and ran towards the fight.

Police said Russell fired several shots at both gas station employees, David Christianson and Carlos Gonzalez, from close range. Russell and the other man took off in the Cadillac.

Russell later told police he “teed off” on both victims who had “finally come across some real gangsters, sad to say.”

Russell, who is Hispanic, originally told police that construction workers at the gas station directed racial slurs at him and his friend, who is black. According to court documents, he told officers they repeated the racial epithets again inside the gas station where employees joined in.

Russell said the fight was over disrespect and he had to shoot the victims because if he didn’t, his friend’s family would kill him for not standing up for him.

Investigators were able to match Russell’s previous booking photos to the surveillance video and he was arrested that same day in the Boulevard Park area. They discovered the black Cadillac in Russell’s garage, along with a disassembled gun and clothing burning in a backyard fire pit.

A judge has agreed to deny bail for Russell.