One JLBM soldier charged with murder-- two others charged with rendering criminal assistance

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Jeremiah Hill has been charged with fatally stabbing Tevin Geike in his heart early Saturday as the soldier walked along Pacific Avenue in Lakewood. Hill was in a car with four other soldiers, all of whom are black, that stopped and confronted Geike and two other white soldiers.

Friends of the victim originally thought racial differences may have triggered the violence, but after investigating, police said it was an unprovoked attack.

Amy Johnson was in court and said Hill "murdered my friend in cold blood. There was no reason for Tevin to have died."

Two of the soldiers that Hill was riding with were charged with rendering criminal assistance. Prosecutors said that Ajoni Runnion Bareford and Cedarium Johnson both helped get rid of the alleged murder weapon by tossing the knife out of the car. Bareford was also accused of trying to destroy evidence. According to court documents, he cleaned blood out of his car that Hill had left after cutting himself during the stabbing.

The other two men in the car were not arrested or charged with crimes. Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said, "detectives told us that they were fully cooperative, that they were not involved in the murder and they were not involved in rendering criminal assistance."

Friends of Tevin Geike are angry about that and wanted to see more people locked up for the killing. Courtney Turnipseed said, "the fact that every single one of those people that were in the car that night, every single one that did not come forward as soon as they realized what happened deserved the same treatment. They all deserve to go to Leavenworth, they all deserve to have the death penalty."

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