Man charged with murder in 13-year-old's shooting death

Murder charges filed in 13-year-old's shooting death in Kent

A first-degree murder charge has been filed against a man connected to a shooting that claimed the life of a 13-year-old boy in Kent last week.

KENT, Wash. - A first-degree murder charge has been filed against a man connected to a shooting that claimed the life of a 13-year-old boy in Kent last week.

King County prosecutors have charged 18-year-old Faysal Abdullahi with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

According to charging documents, Abdullahi is not believed to be the shooter, but was the one who arranged the meetup through OfferUp.

During this meeting, which was at Turnkey Park around 9 p.m. on July 16, 13-year-old Matthiew Stavkovy was shot in the back when multiple suspects tried to rob his friend of camera equipment they were planning to sell to Abdullahi.

Abdullahi was accompanied by another suspect to meet a group of friends selling camera equipment, which he agreed to buy for $1,850, court docs say. The group of friends were joined by Stavkovy, who was in the area.

When they met, another man came out of the park, pulled a pistol from his sweatshirt, and stole the camera equipment from the seller after pushing them to the ground.

After this, Stavkovy and another person at the meetup got on an ATV and drove away. They observed three suspects following behind them on foot, according to court documents.

Shortly after departing the park, Stavkoviy told his passenger he was shot and lost consciousness. The passenger took over driving and attempted to get help at a nearby apartment complex, but Stavkovy later died of his injuries.

Detectives tracked down the IP address of the OfferUp account belonging to the person who set up the robbery, identifying him as Abdullahi. Police say he had clothes matching the suspect's description and some of the stolen camera equipment at his registered address.

Prosecutors also say Abdullahi deleted his OfferUp account minutes after the murder, and allegedly had two screenshots of maps with drawn lines leading to Turnkey Park from two apartment complexes.

According to court documents, Abdullahi admitted to setting up the sale in an interview with detectives. He also claimed the person who shot Stavkoviy was a fourth suspect that he didn't know, and they all fled in a blue Ford after the shooting.

Abdullahi is currently being held on $2 million bail.