Anthony Gonzalez, a 56-year-old Hispanic male known to friends and family as “Gonzo,” was a union carpenter and a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. Though he had fallen on hard times, those who knew him remembered his character. “He was just, he was such a good person, he really was,” his son James said. “He was just down on his luck.” A neighbor agreed, saying, “He was the one that shouldn’t have left, and he left too soon. He was legitimately a good person.”
His wife, Janet, was left traumatized by his sudden and violent death.
In the early morning of June 20, 2022, Gonzalez was inside a structure at a homeless encampment in Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood, located at 26th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Juneau Street. An assailant barged into the structure and shot Gonzalez in the face with a shotgun, killing him at the scene. His son James made the devastating discovery of his father’s murder when he went to visit him at the camp later that day.
Police soon identified Jaycee Thompson, then 43, as the man who killed Gonzalez during what was described as a crime spree. The investigation revealed that Thompson had an extensive criminal history, with nine prior felony convictions for crimes including assault and theft, as well as 25 prior arrests. Just a few months before the murder, Thompson had been arrested for felony motor vehicle theft, but he was released from jail after the Northwest Community Bail Fund paid his bail. This fact drew outrage from Gonzalez’s family and others in the community.
Jaycee Cedric Thompson was arrested and charged in connection with the killing. In October 2023, a jury found him guilty of the murder of Anthony Gonzalez. He was sentenced to serve nearly 60 years in prison, bringing the case to a close.
