On the evening of April 7, 2026, a gathering at a Kent, Washington home on East Hill turned deadly, ending the life of 25-year-old Doneu Leemale Gore. Gore, along with 26-year-old Denzel Robert Lee Pressley, was fatally shot in what prosecutors have described as an "unprovoked" attack. The two men were in the backyard of the residence when the shooting occurred.
The events of that evening began with a small group of people at the house watching a basketball game.
Gore and Pressley were reportedly guests of a female roommate of the alleged shooter. According to court documents, the woman had invited one of the men to the home following a domestic violence incident with her boyfriend, who was not the accused gunman. At some point in the evening, an argument broke out, and the two men were asked to leave.
A neighbor's surveillance camera captured the tragic moments that followed. The footage reportedly shows a man, identified by authorities as Deangelo Cyrus Lynch, 34, advancing on Gore and Pressley in the backyard and firing two shots at each of them. The medical examiner later determined that Gore died from multiple gunshot wounds, one of which was a close-range shot to the head. Pressley also died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. After the shooting, Lynch allegedly threatened a female roommate with the gun before fleeing the scene.
Kent Police responded to reports of gunshots at approximately 10:22 p.m. and found both victims unresponsive in the backyard. Despite life-saving efforts, they were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators, aided by witness statements and the surveillance video, arrested Deangelo Cyrus Lynch on April 8. A police K-9 unit later located a handgun in nearby bushes that Lynch had allegedly discarded. During interviews with police, Lynch denied shooting the men and claimed he was not in the backyard at the time of the incident, a statement contradicted by the video evidence.
Deangelo Cyrus Lynch, who had recently moved to Washington from Virginia and has a prior criminal history, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree domestic violence assault. He is being held at the King County Correctional Facility on $5 million bail and pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment on April 16.
