Formerly missing teen arrested in connection to fatal shooting of man at Orting home

ORTING, Wash. — Two 16-year-old males have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a man at his Orting home earlier this week, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

One of the two suspects was later confirmed to be Gabriel Davies, a teenager who went missing under “suspicious circumstances” and was found safe after an extensive search throughout Thurston County, according to PSCD Sergeant Darren Moss.

At about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, deputies responded to a home in the 21900 block of 190th Street East to conduct a welfare check after a 51-year-old man had reportedly not shown up for work for four days.

After gaining access to the home, deputies found the man deceased with a gunshot wound but were unable to locate a firearm nearby.

Detectives and forensic investigators were then called to the scene and continued to collect and process evidence throughout Thursday and Friday.

Detectives had enough evidence for probable cause to arrest two suspects in connection to the homicide as of Friday evening, according to PSCD.

Just after 8 p.m., deputies took two 16-year-old suspects into custody for charges of second degree murder, first degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Both suspects were booked into Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center.

Moss says this is quite the case.

“Yeah, very surprising. Again, we have young kids committing very violent and heinous crimes ... you know, there is so much going for young people nowadays,” Moss said.

He says that while the two teens have been arrested and face charges, the case is far from over.

“But as of January 1st this year, there was a law that passed back in July of last year that no longer allows police to interview any minors for any crimes without an attorney present,” Moss said. “And we may never find that because an attorney has to agree to let the kids talk to law enforcement.”

Both law enforcement and the community still have plenty of questions for the two alleged suspects.

“You just wonder what leads kids to do terrible things like this,” Moss Jr. said.

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