‘We can breathe.’ Friends of ‘random’ victim relieved after arrest in fatal Burlington shooting

BURLINGTON, Wash. — For five trying days, the people who knew and loved 23-year-old Dougie Gunter grieved over his murder, and attended his funeral knowing the man accused of killing Gunter at random was still on the run.

Their grief was mixed with relief when a police officer captured 19-year-old Christian Manuel Flores hiding in Hillcrest Park in Mount Vernon Wednesday afternoon. "I can breathe again a little bit, knowing that the guy who did this to my friend is going to face justice," said Gunter's close friend D.J. Shelly.

Gunter's friends say they're especially torn by the allegations that Flores picked Gunter as a random target on Dec. 6 to make a statement. "Detectives were advised that Flores communicated with his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child prior to the shooting, stating he was going to kill an innocent person, if she didn't come and see him," wrote detectives in charging documents.

“Seems like he was going to take anybody out and unfortunately it was my friend,” said Shelly. “It sucks we couldn’t say goodbye. It was just so sudden, it almost doesn’t feel real.”

Detectives say Flores fired several shots through the driver’s side window of Gunter’s car, after leaving the Skagit Big Mini Mart without buying anything, or saying a word. Gunter’s friends believe he parked his car at the store to buy sports drinks before meeting them to play football at a nearby park. Police don’t believe the two had ever met.

Charging documents indicate Flores has gang ties, and the gang he was affiliated with met on the night of the murder, allegedly to plan a possible escape for Flores into Mexico. There are no details regarding Flores’ whereabouts while police searched for him for five days.

Gunter's friends describe him as a man with a huge heart, who would go out of his way to make people around him happy.

"He'd light up the room with a smile and his laugh and everything," Shelly said "He was a good soul, man, he was a good soul."

Flores is scheduled to face a Skagit County judge on Thursday morning, Dec. 12. “I will be there,” said Shelly. I want to see him, find out what’s going on, why he killed my friend."

© 2019 Cox Media Group