On an early Sunday morning in October 2018, Terrence King, a 28-year-old Black man from Seattle, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. On October 21st, he had gone to the New World VIP Lounge on South Tacoma Way in Lakewood, Washington, to pick up his girlfriend who was working as a bartender. What should have been a routine end to a weekend night turned into a scene of chaos and violence.
Inside the club, a dispute erupted, reportedly after a group of men were rude to a
female bartender. This initial confrontation escalated into at least two separate fights. The violence soon spilled outside, where multiple shooters unleashed a hail of approximately 20 bullets into the crowd near the entrance. King, who was simply waiting to take his girlfriend home, was caught in the crossfire and fatally shot in the back. Three other men were also wounded in the shooting.
The aftermath of the shooting launched a significant police investigation. Detectives utilized surveillance footage from a nearby business which captured three men fleeing the scene. These men were described as being in their 20s or 30s. The investigation led to several arrests in the following months. Police used social media to help identify some of the individuals involved in the altercation and shooting.
Ultimately, several men faced charges in connection with the incident. In November 2020, a jury reached verdicts for some of the accused. Dominique James Avington and Darry Daquan Smalley were convicted of first-degree murder for the death of Terrence King, as well as three counts of first-degree assault for the other victims. Another man, Kenneth Maurice Davis, was acquitted of all charges. Charges against other individuals, Monroe James Ezell, Thomas Earl Cooper, and Leonard Ray Brightmon, were previously dismissed.
