Woman was killed in random Puyallup robbery. Now 2 teens have been sentenced
Two teenagers accused of being involved in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old woman in Puyallup during an apparently random robbery have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to about seven years and nine years in state custody.
Ethan Quinn Byron Nordgren and Noah Maurice Loyd-Branch, both 19, each pleaded guilty May 15 to first-degree manslaughter for the Feb. 25, 2024 killing of Gianna Stone. Loyd-Branch additionally pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Nordgren was suspected of driving Loyd-Branch and a third defendant, Dae'Meion Carmello Purdy, to and from Sam Peach Park where Stone was killed.
Stone was with other people in a BMW at the park when the defendants walked up to the vehicle and pulled out handguns, according to charging documents. They demanded the group's property, and as the driver drove off, shots were fired.
Court documents described Loyd-Branch and Purdy as the ones who fired the gunshots. One bullet went through the back of the BMW and struck Stone in the head.
Purdy's case remains pending with a next court date in July.
Stone's mother spoke during the defendants' sentencing hearing May 15 in Pierce County Superior Court. KING 5 reported that the mother said the defendants were her definition of 'pure evil.'
Judge Joseph Evans handed down the defendants' punishments. Nordgren received a mid-range sentence of 7 years, eight months. Loyd-Branch's sentence was at the high end of the standard sentencing range, nine years, six months. According to court records, neither had prior criminal convictions.
According to court records, the defendants will serve their time in juvenile rehabilitation in the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families. If they remain there at age 25, they would transfer to the Department of Corrections.
Man accused of killing friend in car in Pierce County sentenced to prison
A 21-year man suspected of fatally shooting his friend in a vehicle in Parkland pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.
Julian Lafayette Hart Padilla pleaded guilty to the May 21, 2022 homicide of An'Jai Whitted, 21. According to court records, the victim was shot while in a vehicle outside an apartment complex in the 11300 block of 10th Avenue Court East.
In a victim-impact statement submitted to the court, Whitted's mother said Hart Padilla taking her son's life was the beginning of the darkest time of her life.
'In one senseless moment, you shattered everything,' the mother wrote. 'His absence is a daily ache that no words can fully express. I wake up every day to a world that no longer feels whole, haunted by the silence where his laughter and smile used to be.'
Whitted was driven to St. Clare's Hospital in a private vehicle after the shooting. According to court documents, he underwent surgery there and died from his injuries. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office determined he died of a gunshot wound to the back.
At the hospital, deputies spoke to a friend of Whitted who reported he, Whitted and their friends were hanging out in an apartment when Whitted decided to leave. The friend said he fell asleep and woke up to someone saying Whitted had been shot.
Detectives found a single expended shell casing in a Chevy Camaro in which the victim was shot. They determined Whitted was sitting in the front passenger seat. A Glock and a Tokarev semiautomatic pistol were found in the car, and detectives alleged the Tokarev belonged to Hart Padilla after finding photos of him with the gun on social media.
Judge Susan Adams sentenced Hart Padilla, giving him a punishment at the middle of the standard sentencing range. According to court records, the defendant had no prior criminal convictions.
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