16-year-old charged in fatal shooting of woman in Shoreline

SHORELINE, Wash. - A 16-year-old has been charged with murder in connection to the shooting death of a woman at a Shoreline apartment complex.

Court documents state Jaden P. Taylor shot 50-year-old BillyJo K. Perkins multiple times on the night of Saturday, May 18, after she tried to intervene in a confrontation between Taylor and another woman.

Detectives say surveillance footage at the Ballinger Homes apartment complex captured the whole incident, which happened around 10 p.m. right in front of the office management building.

According to court documents, the surveillance footage shows a man walking past the management office with two women, and a small group following behind them. Perkins passed through the group as she was walking her dog.

Detectives say the man ahead of the small group appeared to engage in a conversation and later pointed a pistol at the two women. Police noted a blue laser dot on one of the female's faces as the pistol was pointed at her.

Then, in an attempt to intervene, Perkins walked up behind the man with the pistol and grabbed the back of his hair, according to court documents. The man then spins around and appears to strike Perkins in the head and shove her into a car, with the blue laser dot now appearing on her chest.

Suddenly, the group of people begins to scatter, and Perkins' grip on the shooter's hair appears to loosen as her body slides to the ground.

Detectives say the video shows the shooter stumble and hit his knee and arm on the sidewalk, run up the stairs into an apartment unit, and later flee the scene in the passenger seat of a black Honda.

A little over an hour after the shooting, court documents state a 16-year-old arrived at Swedish Hospital in Edmonds with a gunshot wound. He said he came from an apartment complex in Shoreline, reporting that he heard a man and woman arguing and then gunshots, but did not know who the shooter was.

Then, about three hours after the shooting, another 16-year-old checks into the Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland with a gunshot wound to the foot. He was identified as Jaden Taylor.

According to detectives, Taylor said he was shot at the Ballinger Homes complex, but when asked about how he was shot, he became hostile and responded with "I don't know" to nearly all the questions.

Court documents state Taylor's clothing and appearance matched that of the shooter captured on surveillance cameras, adding that he also had a fresh scrape on his left knee.

Featured

Man whose car was damaged by suspect fleeing police in Ballard has same car stolen from repair shop

article

Man whose car was damaged by suspect fleeing police in Ballard has same car stolen from repair shop

For an Instacart driver, whose car was damaged during a stolen car chase, lightning really did strike twice.

The next day, detectives interviewed the driver of the black Honda that the shooter fled the scene in. The driver said Taylor showed up to his front door after the shooting, claiming he had been shot. He agreed to drive Taylor to the hospital, but after noticing he didn't have any visible gunshot wounds, he instead drove Taylor to a nearby park to meet someone.

According to court documents, the driver said Taylor began screaming after hearing what sounded like gunfire in the distance, saying "I had to!" and "She tried to rob me."

During a search of Taylor's residence, detectives say they recovered a pair of ripped jeans that appeared to be the pair the shooter wore in the surveillance video. Inside the jeans' pockets were two bullets, consistent with the caliber found at the scene. Deputies also located an empty box for a blue laser sight in the living room.

Taylor is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. His bail was requested to be set at $2 million.