Early last Sunday morning in Tacoma 40-year-old Bruce Price was shot to death. According to reports this week, the shooting took place at an after-hours party put on by the Global Grinders motorcycle club. The party was thrown in a rented, warehouse-like space, and charging documents say the man who did the shooting, allegedly 35-year-old Devennice Antoine Gaines, had gotten in a fight with a man in a wheelchair not long before gunning down Price.
Gaines was officially charged yesterday with second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, with not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf in Pierce County Super Court. He faces the possibility of life in prison under Washington's "three-strikes" law, with previous convictions for manslaughter, second-degree assault and first-degree attempted robbery under his belt.
As has been noted by Tacoma's News Tribune this week, the shooting death of Price is the second within eight months to occur at a party hosted by the Global Grinders motorcycle club. In August 17-year-old Billy Shirley III, a well-regarded high school student who volunteered his time in the community, was killed at a similar party hosted by the Global Grinders at a rented storage space in Tacoma's Nalley Valley. (Shirley's mother filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Tuesday against the owner of the property where the party was thrown.)
Charging documents released yesterday say Gaines got into an argument with a man in a wheelchair at the after-hours party near South 23rd Street and Fawcett Avenue, and that the altercation eventually came to blows. At that point the party was either declared over by the Global Grinders and everyone was instructed to leave, or just Gaines was instructed to leave. Either way, even at a early-morning warehouse party put on by a motorcycle club, charging documents suggest getting in a fight with a guy in a wheelchair will get you 86'd.
Prosecutors contend that as Gaines was leaving the party, Price was giving him shit for getting into a fight with a guy in a wheelchair, and it was enough shit to inspire Gaines to pull a handgun from his waistband and fire "several" shots in Price's direction, with one of them hitting his heart, and at least one other hitting his arm.
After shooting Price, prosecutors say Gaines took off, but that several witnesses were able to identify him as the shooter, including one who picked him out of a photo montage. Charging documents say Gaines is reportedly affiliated with Seattle's "Blood street gang set," and that Price and the man in the wheelchair have reported affiliations with "a rival gang set, namely the Hilltop Crips."
"Our Gang Unit in the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office continues to vigorously prosecute gang-related crimes," Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said in a press release announcing charges. "Gang violence is down in Pierce County, but there is still work to do."
The News Tribune that Gaines was charged Monday with failure to register as a sex offender in King County, having been convicted in 1991 at the age of 14 of indecent liberties after he physically and sexually assaulted a girl in an empty classroom at their junior high school -- tagging him as a Level 1 sex offender. Level 1 sex offenders are considered least likely to reoffend, but are still required to register their address. also reports
Devennice Gaines was charged Thursday with second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not-guilty in Pierce County Superior Court.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018029022_apwamotorcycleclubinvestigation.html?syndication=rss
Devennice Gaines Pierce County Charging Docs & Info
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