Teen charged as adult for fatally shooting friend along Marine View Drive in Tacoma

A 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting his friend in a car along Marine View Drive in Tacoma has been charged as an adult.

Dorricko Jovell Jimerson-Easterling pleaded not guilty at arraignment Monday to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree unlawful gun possession in Pierce County Superior Court.

He killed 17-year-old Antonio Douglas of Federal Way, investigators said, while they and other friends were smoking marijuana and passing a stolen handgun around while stopped at a pullout Dec. 4 in the 3700 block of Marine View Drive.

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Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set Jimerson-Easterling’s bail at $100,000.

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According to charging papers:

Five people were in a Toyota Camry, “listening to music, smoking marijuana and handling a firearm,” the declaration for determination of probable cause reads.

Douglas was in the driver’s seat, and Jimerson-Easterling was in the back.

The group loaded and unloaded the gun and passed it around.

Jimerson-Easterling told investigators that Douglas passed it to him, saying it was not loaded.

Jimerson-Easterling took the clip out of the gun, which fired when he pointed it at Douglas and pulled the trigger.

The bullet went through Douglas’ arm and into his torso.

The group drove the injured teen to his aunt’s house, and she told them to take him to the hospital.

They brought Douglas to St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way, where he died.

A handgun found near the aunt’s home “appeared unaffected by the very cold weather conditions, indicating it had not been there for long,” the charging papers say.

It was reported stolen Nov. 18.

KIRO