Guilty plea in case of driver killed by stray bullet in Central District

SEATTLE -- Andrew Patterson pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Justin Ferrari, who was killed by a stray bullet in May 2012 as he drove through Seattle’s Central District with his family.

Andrew Patterson

Patterson, 20, was in a dispute with another man when he opened fire from across a street. A stray bullet struck Ferrari, 42, in the head as he was driving through an intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and East Cherry Street with his parents and his two young children in his van on May 24, 2012.

Ferrari died in his father’s arms.

The sentence range, which includes a firearm enhancement, is 183 to 280 months in prison, and prosecutors will recommend 231 months, or a little over 19 years, the King County Prosecutor’s Office said.

“The random, tragic and senseless death of Justin Ferrari was the result of this defendant's decision to use a gun to settle a petty dispute," said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. "Every person in the neighborhood was a potential victim of his irrational and erratic use of deadly force."

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23.

Justin Ferrari