In the quiet of a Lakewood, Washington evening on October 13, 2019, the life of 18-year-old Lavonte Daniel Fleming was tragically cut short. What began as a Sunday spent with a friend spiraled into a scene of violence and deceit that would leave one family grieving and another facing the consequences of a fatal gunshot.
That evening, Lakewood police responded to a call around 6:30 p.m. in the 14800 block of Washington Avenue Southwest. Inside a house, they discovered Lavonte Daniel Fleming lying near the front door with a single gunshot wound. Despite the efforts of the responding officers, the young man was pronounced dead at the scene. Present at the house was his 17-year-old friend, Elijah Goode-Mitchell, who was found in a frantic state, initially claiming that Fleming had shot himself.
The initial account provided by Goode-Mitchell quickly unraveled as investigators delved deeper into the circumstances of the shooting. His grandmother, with whom he was staying, had called 911 and relayed the same story of a self-inflicted wound to the stomach. However, the physical evidence told a different story. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Fleming had been shot in the back from a distance of one to two feet, a finding that directly contradicted the claim of suicide. This critical piece of information shifted the focus of the investigation, and the death was ruled a homicide.
Further inconsistencies in Goode-Mitchell's story emerged. While he denied knowing where his friend had gotten a gun, a Snapchat video surfaced showing him holding a firearm that appeared similar to the one used in the shooting. Another witness told police that the day before the incident, Goode-Mitchell had been brandishing the weapon, which had a laser sight, and pointing it at both Fleming and the witness. The witness recalled a conversation where they had discussed a rapper involved in an accidental shooting and had asked Goode-Mitchell to stop pointing the gun at people. The boyfriend of Goode-Mitchell's grandmother also told police he heard the two teenagers laughing and playing with a dog just before the gunshot, and he did not believe Fleming had shot himself. After the shot, he witnessed Goode-Mitchell dragging his friend's body and screaming that he had shot himself. In a panic, Goode-Mitchell's grandmother hid the gun in an outside planter.
Two days after the shooting, on October 15, Elijah Goode-Mitchell surrendered to detectives and was taken into custody. He was subsequently charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. After navigating the legal system, Goode-Mitchell eventually pleaded guilty to the charges. In April 2024, more than four years after the incident, he was sentenced to nearly five years in state custody. At his sentencing, he expressed remorse, stating that the shooting was an accident and lacked any malice. He spoke of his own children and his desire to be a better father, acknowledging the immense pain his actions had caused Lavonte Fleming's family.
