King County prosecutors have charged Kasim Kone, 19, of Kent with first-degree murder in the death of Vatauomalo “Tau” Leiataua, 17, who was shot near South 288th Street and Military Road South in SeaTac at around 11 p.m. on August 2. According to the arrest report, a medical examiner investigator concluded the pavement served as a backstop, consistent with a gunshot to the head fired while Leiataua was on the ground.
SeaTac police were called around 11:30 p.m. after a bystander found the body on the shoulder of the road. About an hour later, friends of Leiataua arrived at the scene saying they were looking for him. A witness told detectives the group had been drinking codeine cough syrup and smoking marijuana near Southcenter Mall earlier that evening, and that Kone had also taken mushrooms and began behaving erratically after a phone call from his mother. The witness said Kone repeatedly stated he was too high.