In the late hours of a Thursday evening in Kent, Washington, on June 11, 2015, the life of 22-year-old JaeBrione Gary, a Black / African American male, was violently cut short. Inside an apartment on Kent's West Hill, in the 2700 block of South 256th Place, a confrontation turned fatal. Gary was unarmed when he was chased through the residence, pistol-whipped, and shot three times at close range. Emergency responders arrived at the scene around 11:45 p.m. to find Gary grievously wounded.
Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into Gary's death quickly pointed to a suspect who was known to him. Witnesses at the apartment complex provided a description that led a Kent Police officer to immediately recognize the individual as 42-year-old Christopher I. Hutton. The two had reportedly known each other for several years, with one of Gary's aunts having dated Hutton many years prior. An all-points bulletin was issued for Hutton and his late 1990s Cadillac El Dorado. He was located and taken into custody for questioning. Prosecutors alleged that the motive for the killing was revenge for an earlier robbery that Hutton believed Gary had committed against him.
Following his arrest, Christopher I. Hutton was charged with first-degree murder. During his arraignment at the Maleng Regional Justice Center, he entered a plea of not guilty. The courtroom proceedings were fraught with tension, as disputes broke out between the friends and family of both JaeBrione Gary and Christopher Hutton, requiring intervention from corrections officers. Hutton was held in the county jail on $1 million bail. During a search of his vehicle, police discovered a chrome-colored revolver in the trunk that appeared to have a blood smear on it. When questioned by detectives, Hutton denied any involvement in the shooting. This was not Gary's first encounter with gun violence; three years earlier, in 2012, he had been shot and wounded in a gang-related incident and later testified against the Seattle gang member who had shot him.
