Wheel man in suspected Tacoma revenge killing takes deal to avoid murder charge

A 31-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to nearly three years in prison for driving his gang-connected brother to and from a suspected revenge killing at a Tacoma casino.

The man suspected of fatally shooting 25-year-old Ty Allen Jenkins in the Aug. 1, 2020 shooting in the south parking garage of the Emerald Queen Casino off of Interstate 5 has a warrant for his arrest, court records indicate, but has yet to be apprehended.

David Sekou Sebowa Ward of Tacoma pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree manslaughter and first-degree rendering criminal assistance for his role in Jenkins’ death. In his plea statement submitted to the court, Ward wrote that he did not believe he was guilty of the crimes and said he was taking advantage of an agreement with prosecutors.

The sentence Pierce County Superior Court Judge Garold Johnson imposed was at the high end of the standard sentencing range for defendants prosecuted in similar cases, 26 to 34 months.

Ward was originally charged with first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement. In court Wednesday morning, deputy prosecuting attorney Lena Berberich-Eerebout said it was difficult to overstate how steeply Ward’s standard sentencing range was reduced as a result of the change in his charges. She said removing the firearm enhancement alone took off five years in prison. Berberich-Eerebout asked that Johnson give Ward a high-end sentence.

“I expect the defense is going to talk about the fact that we don’t believe Mr. Ward was the shooter — that we believe that he was the driver of the vehicle,” Berberich-Eerebout said. “But your honor, respectfully, the state has already considered that along with a myriad of other factors in agreeing to this amendment.”

Ward has no prior criminal convictions, according to court records. His defense attorney, Walter O Peale III, said in court that his client had spent his life in a productive way and was not associated with gang members. Records state Ward was working as a UPS supervisor before his arrest last year.

After the state presented its recommendation, Jenkins’ mother, Aisha Butler, addressed the court via Zoom. She implored Johnson to not give Ward a “slap on the wrist” for the murder of her son and said she believed Ward and his brother had planned the killing.

Butler said Jenkins, who was from Las Vegas, left behind two children who are now ages 5 and 10. She said their family misses Jenkins every minute of every day, and now all they have of him are pictures, videos and the memories they made together.

“I would like the judge to take into consideration that we will never see my son again,” Butler said. “And this man will be free to walk the streets in less than three years.”

Investigators first tied Ward’s brother, reportedly a member of a local street gang, to Jenkins’ murder, then determined Ward had driven him to the casino, according to charging documents. Court records describe the gunman and Jenkins as members of rival gangs that were feuding in the months before Jenkins was shot.

In early 2020, Jenkins was reportedly robbed during a firearms transaction involving Ward’s brother and another man, both suspected to be members of the rival set, records state. In July that year, the other man involved in the robbery of Jenkins was shot nine times in a Federal Way shooting that also left a 17-year-old associate, Brice Armstrong, dead. A 12-year-old boy was also injured.

Detectives believed that shooting might have been Jenkins’ revenge for the robbery. According to court records, the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab matched some shell casings from the scene to the 9 mm pistol found on Jenkins when he was killed in Tacoma. The gun was also connected to shell casings recovered at four other Pierce County shootings.

“This shooting would make Jenkins a potential target for a revenge shooting,” investigators wrote in charging documents.

Surveillance cameras from a nearby business reportedly captured Jenkins’ being shot in the Emerald Queen Casino’s south parking garage at about 12:30 a.m. Records state Jenkins had arrived at the casino about two hours earlier with an acquaintance. The two left minutes before the shooting and separated as they reached the parking garage.

At about that time, a man exited a red Toyota Corolla parked on Portland Avenue and entered the garage. Video reportedly showed the man shoot Jenkins from behind several times and then jog back to the Corolla, which drove off.

Footage of the shooting showed the gunman wore four large rings on his left hand, which matched social media images of the suspect. The afternoon after the shooting, a man matching the suspect’s description was captured on surveillance footage pawning four rings at a pawn shop.

Ward was pictured on the suspected gunman’s social media, and police believed they were half-brothers, according to charging documents. Vehicle registration records also showed that the red Corolla that brought the gunman to the shooting belonged to Ward.

In court Wednesday, Ward declined to speak before he was sentenced. His attorney, Peale, said the case was a “terrible tragedy” that should not have occurred. He also said Ward is much different than his brother. The siblings are not close, according to Peale, and they at times went months or years without contact.

Peale said the brother went to the casino for reasons that were unknown to Ward. But the attorney acknowledged that there was a question of whether Ward would have naturally understood what was happening because of his relation to the suspected gunman.

Ward tried to avoid all the things his brother was involved in, Peale said, and Ward actively tried to discourage his behavior. Peale added that Ward sometimes helped his brother with rides because he felt loyal to his family member.

“Even without knowing what the brother was going to do or why he was going to do it,” Peale said.