Tragic Park Shooting: Three Teenagers Charged in Death of 13-Year-Old Matthiew Stavkovy

Three teenagers have been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Matthiew Stavkovy in Kent, Washington, during a camera sale gone wrong. The incident has left the local community grieving and seeking justice.

Washington, Bollywood Fever: Three teenagers are accused of killing a 13-year-old boy in the Seattle area who met them at a park to try to sell a camera and some equipment.

Matthiew Stavkovy arrived with his sister and a friend at Turnkey Park in Kent, Washington, just before 9 p.m. on July 16, attempting to sell the gear when an unidentified teenager started firing a pistol, hitting the young boy as he tried to flee, according to KING 5 reports.

Faysal J. Abdullahi, 18, was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery. He is now being held on a $2 million bond. Two other teenagers, brothers aged 17 and 19, were also arrested at their home on Thursday in connection with the fatal shooting. The unidentified 19-year-old is being held in jail for first-degree murder and first-degree robbery, while his younger brother is in secure detention.

Kent police say Abdullahi, the only teenage suspect whose name has been released so far, set up a meeting to buy camera equipment from a seller on the OfferUp website. They agreed to meet at the local park, and Abdullahi later admitted to police he set up the meeting and arrived at the park with two other people, according to a statement of probable cause.

“The defendant orchestrated an armed robbery that left a 13-year-old bystander dead and narrowly missed striking his 15-year-old sister with bullets,” Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas O’Ban wrote in charging documents obtained by the Kent Reporter. He added that Abdullahi also planned the approach route to the park and had a getaway driver.

“Despite the defendant’s young age, this shows a surprising amount of planning and forethought,” O’Ban wrote. “While the defendant himself may not have intended to kill any of the victims that night, he orchestrated and set in motion a chain of events that killed one and could have easily killed others.”

Prosecutors say that while the seller was negotiating a price with Abdullahi, who was using an alias, a suspect wearing a mask came out of the park with a pistol and started firing. At that point, Abdullahi reportedly grabbed the backpack full of camera equipment from the seller and pushed him down. The seller later told police he heard three or four gunshots and ran to hide, while Stavkovy and his sister ran to their ATV to get away. Matthiew was then shot in the back and lost consciousness while driving the ATV, and his sister took over the vehicle’s operation, driving him to a nearby apartment complex where multiple people called 911, police said.

Unfortunately, Matthiew died before they could get him to a hospital.

Law enforcement later identified Abdullahi as a suspect through the IP address he used to set up the sale and arrested him outside a residence following a stakeout last week. Police said he had the camera bag from the sale at the time of the arrest. During questioning, Abdullahi told detectives he set up the meeting and arrived at the park with two others but claimed he did not know the masked gunman, saying he came from somewhere else in the park.

Cellphone data later determined that Abdullahi was in the area of the brothers’ home before going to the park, and his cellphone even connected to a WiFi network with the brothers’ last name. Detectives also found video and photos allegedly showing Abdullahi riding in the getaway car with the brothers on the day of the shooting. The photos and video show the 19-year-old in possession of multiple handguns, KING 5 reports.

The 19-year-old later placed the blame for the shooting on his younger brother, who he said fired the first round. He claimed his brother told him he opened fire “because he felt he was going to be hit by the quad that the victim was driving,” according to police. The brothers are expected to be formally charged in the coming days.

Meanwhile, friends and family gathered at Matthiew’s local church for a funeral service on Sunday, where they described the young boy as ‘caring’ and intelligent. “Matthiew had the most caring, gentle, and humble heart,” his sister Inessa said in a eulogy, according to KOMO News. Others said he loved singing and was a devoted Christian who had given his own sermons and was excited to join the youth choir in the fall.

“Matthiew was an inspiration to all those that knew him,” says an online fundraiser for the boy’s grieving family. “He loved nature and took care of the chickens, cared for the garden, and had a passion for fishing,” it said, noting that Matthiew was smart enough to skip the eighth grade and was set to start ninth grade in the fall. “He devoted himself to serving people at Bread of Life Church, from helping with construction, to singing and playing on instruments, and even delivering sermons from the pulpit. Most importantly, he loved the Lord with all his heart, and his conduct reflected that everywhere he was involved.”

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