VIDEO: Puyallup teen murder suspect arrested after police chase in stolen vehicle
PUYALLUP, Wash. - The Pierce County Sheriff's Department has arrested an 18-year-old accused of gunning down a 19-year-old at Puyallup basketball court over the victim's alleged refusal to give him alcohol. Deputies chased the suspect, who was allegedly driving a stolen car, before he was arrested, according to court documents.
On Sept. 3, just before 3:30 a.m., a group of people were gathered at a basketball court near 105th Ln E and 188th St Ct E.
Deputies responded to multiple 911 calls of shots fired in the area. When they arrived, they found 19-year-old Keylen Collins dead from a gunshot wound.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Collins' phone was found just a few feet away from him, and the person he was on the phone with at the time he was shot was still on the line and was able to tell deputies the victim's name.
At the scene, deputies found empty alcohol containers, broken glass, empty vape boxes and several spent shell casings on the basketball court.
After interviewing witnesses and examining surveillance footage, detectives named the suspect in the shooting as 18-year-old Antonio Hartman.
On Sept. 18, deputies spotted Hartman driving a black Ford Fusion with a stolen plate, according to court documents. Detectives began following him in an unmarked car.
In Washington, murder is a pursuable offense.
When deputies in a marked patrol car caught up to Hartman's vehicle in Frederickson, they turned their lights and sirens on, but Harman allegedly refused to stop and sped off, according to court documents.
During the chase, deputies said Hartman was driving "recklessly" and was "using the oncoming lane to pass cars and school buses."
He swerved and hit the back of an SUV and then hit the rear wheel of a dump trailer at the bottom of the hill on Eustis Hunt Road, according to deputies. The vehicle he was in crashed into a guardrail and deputies boxed him in.
The occupants of the other vehicles were not injured.
Hartman was arrested and booked into jail for evaluation.
According to the person who was on the phone with Collins at the time of the shooting, he heard someone tell the victim to give him their bottles of alcohol. The victim refused. and the man on the other line heard several gunshots, and then silence.
1 killed in shooting at Puyallup neighborhood party, deputies investigating
A 19-year-old man was shot and killed in a Lipoma Firs neighborhood in Puyallup early Sunday morning.
One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told detectives that she was hanging out with Hartman when he allegedly told her that he wanted to rob Collins and that if he fought back, "he would shoot him," according to court documents.
The witness also said she heard the suspect say, "I'll take your life," before multiple shots were fired, according to documents. She said the suspect "just kept going" and that she watched him "walk over to the victim and take something."
The suspect was previously convicted of another violent crime for second-degree robbery and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in juvenile court. His October 2022 sentence was suspended and he was put on 12 months of probation, according to court documents.
He is legally prohibited from possessing a gun.
Bail was set at $2.5 million.
If you have any information about the shooting or the gathering that led up to it, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app. You can remain anonymous.