TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Pierce County prosecutors have charged three men with first-degree murder in the death of a Tacoma woman killed by a stray bullet.
One of the men, 19-year-old Manuel Castillo, was arraigned Monday in last Thursday’s death of 40-year-old Lisa Marie Melancon. Castillo was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Also charged and still at large are 25-year-old Olujimi Blakeney and 28-year-old Herman Jackson. Charging documents identify Blakeney as the gunman.
Prosecutors allege the three drove to a Tacoma neighborhood because Castillo wanted to fight another man who’d been exchanging angry text messages with Castillo’s girlfriend. After the fight broke up, several shots were fired as the trio drove off.
Melancon was struck in the head by a bullet. Police say she and her husband had stepped outside after a neighbor asked them to help break up the fight. She was a city code enforcement officer.
