Prosecutors say the 15-year-old suspect fired toward rival teens before a 16-year-old girl was killed.
KENT, WA — A 15-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder in the June 3 shooting death of 16-year-old Nyeruon Deng Biel outside a Kent apartment complex, prosecutors said.
The case is now moving through King County Juvenile Court as prosecutors ask a judge to decide whether the boy should be tried as an adult. The teen, whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile, also faces four counts of first-degree assault tied to gunfire that investigators say was aimed at other teens near Biel.
Charging documents say the shooting happened about 4:21 a.m. in the parking lot of the Aliso Apartments at 411 Alder Lane, near the Park Place Apartments in south Kent. Police had been called to the 400 block of Alder Lane after reports of shots fired. Officers found Biel in the parking lot with visible injuries to her face and head and tried to save her. Medics later joined the effort, but Biel died at the scene. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said she died from a gunshot wound to the torso and ruled her death a homicide. King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney said the adult-court decision “will be made by a judge after hearing from prosecutors and defense.”
Investigators said Biel and six friends, all younger than 18, had been visiting a friend near the apartments before the shooting. Court records say one person in the group contacted three juvenile males to meet them. Before those three arrived, two other males, including the accused 15-year-old, were already with the group in a rear parking lot. A witness told detectives one male was believed to be in a gang and that one of the males arriving was believed to be in a rival gang. The three males pulled into the Aliso Apartments lot in a red Ford Fusion about 4:15 a.m. A Tesla then stopped on Alder Lane across from the Fusion. Witnesses heard gunfire, and the group scattered.
Police said surveillance video captured sound from the shooting, including about eight shots after the Tesla stopped. A witness told detectives the 15-year-old suspect fired from an elevated area near the Green River levee toward the Ford Fusion. Detectives recovered four 9 mm cartridge casings near the Green River Trail, though charging papers say more shots were heard and some casings may not have been found because of thick vegetation. Investigators also said a male from the Fusion, described in records as the apparent target, fired two shots from a pistol in an unknown direction after the first shots. Police later obtained a cellphone number for the suspect, and records placed his device on a tower covering the apartment area at the time of the homicide. Officials have not said that Biel was an intended target.
The murder case follows earlier violent crime allegations involving the same teen. KOMO reported that he had been arrested at least twice before the Kent shooting. In July 2024, he was among three teens accused of bringing stolen, loaded firearms into a crowd at Seattle’s Chinatown-International District Seafair Parade, causing panic. In May 2025, prosecutors said he was with a 20-year-old man during an attempted robbery of girls at a Federal Way apartment complex. During that confrontation, one intended victim shot and killed the 20-year-old, according to court records. Investigators said the teen fired multiple shots in the parking lot while children were nearby. A Federal Way resident, Elena Williams, described the aftermath then as alarming. “This is just too much,” Williams said at the time.
Records reviewed by detectives showed the teen had been convicted of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of second-degree unlawful firearm possession and reckless endangerment. KOMO reported that he received 15 to 36 weeks in juvenile rehabilitation for the assault conviction, four months for a firearm enhancement and 30 days for unlawful firearm possession. Prosecutors said he was out of custody and the subject of an active warrant for violating juvenile parole conditions when the Kent shooting happened. That warrant was for an unrelated second-degree assault case. Detectives also believed, based on the warrant, that the teen could be armed with a machine gun when they later searched for him.
Kent police conducted surveillance June 18 at the Taylor Creek Apartments at 7050 S. 116th Place in Seattle while trying to locate the teen on the warrant. Detectives saw him on a third-floor balcony and said tattoos seen through a zoom lens matched his known tattoos. Valley SWAT surrounded the apartment unit. Charging documents say the boy came out on his own, possibly without knowing police were outside, and was arrested. Officers said he had a Glock Model 30 pistol in his waistband. The gun was loaded with a 26-round extended magazine and had a Glock switch, a device that can allow a semiautomatic handgun to fire continuously with one pull of the trigger. Prosecutors later filed separate charges for first-degree unlawful firearm possession and unlawful possession of a machine gun part.
The first court hearing on the state’s request to move the murder case out of juvenile court was held June 25. McNerthney said Washington law sends first-degree murder cases involving 16- and 17-year-old defendants to adult court without that kind of hearing, but a judge must decide when the accused person is 15 and prosecutors make the request. The teen pleaded not guilty in the separate firearm case. A status conference in the murder case is set for Aug. 4, and a decline hearing on whether he can be prosecuted as an adult is set for Sept. 14.
The teen remains in custody at the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center in Seattle. The next major court date is Aug. 4, when the murder case and the separate firearm case are both scheduled to return before the court.
Author note: Last updated June 27, 2026.