In a tragic and calculated act of violence, 25-year-old Edixon Velasquez, a Hispanic male, was fatally shot on the evening of September 19, 2017, outside his home in West Seattle, Washington. Originally from Honduras, Velasquez was described by friends as a dedicated worker with strong connections to the Seattle area. The events leading to his death began to unfold when his ex-girlfriend, Anna Kasparova, contacted him with a deceptive request for help parking her car.
Lured outside by this ruse, Velasquez was ambushed in what prosecutors would later describe as a "violent and premeditated" attack. As he went to assist Kasparova, her new boyfriend, Abel Linares-Montejo, emerged and shot Velasquez in the chest and leg. Surveillance footage from a nearby home captured the chilling sequence of events, showing Kasparova coaxing Velasquez towards her car just before the gunman approached. After the shooting, Kasparova was seen calmly walking past Velasquez as he lay dying on the street, making no effort to help him or call 911 before driving away. Seattle police and paramedics arrived at the scene in the 8100 block of 31st Avenue Southwest shortly after the shots were fired around 6:53 p.m., but Velasquez succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
The investigation quickly led to the arrest of Anna Kasparova, then 21, just hours after the murder. Two weeks later, authorities apprehended the 19-year-old gunman, Abel Linares-Montejo, in Auburn. Both were charged with first-degree murder. In December 2019, after a month-long trial, a jury found both Kasparova and Linares-Montejo guilty of first-degree murder, with the additional finding that a gun was used in the commission of the crime. In February 2020, a King County Superior Court judge sentenced both to 25 years in prison, calling the murder a "completely senseless act." The judge noted that while both defendants had difficult upbringings, so had their victim, who had managed to overcome his own challenges.
