A parking dispute in a Lynnwood neighborhood on the night of March 28, 2020, ended in the fatal shooting of 36-year-old DeMarcus Bell of Tacoma. The conflict began when a woman returned home and found a visitor’s car in her driveway on the 3300 block of 203rd Street SW. She told her fiancé, and a group that included Bell went to the neighbor’s house to confront the situation.

An argument on the front porch turned physical; during the fight one man suffered a broken leg and another lost his false teeth. The woman’s fiancé, unarmed, called for his gun to try to end the altercation. Alex Valdovinos, who lived at the residence, emerged with a rifle and first fired two shots into the air. As Bell and his companions retreated, Valdovinos fired three or four more rounds. Bell was struck in the head and collapsed at the end of the driveway. Investigators recovered six .22-caliber casings about 150 feet from where Bell fell, and the Snohomish County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide by gunshot wound.

Valdovinos initially denied shooting but a witness contradicted him; he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and later pleaded guilty. In September 2022 a judge sentenced him to over 15 years in prison for Bell’s killing.

Does anyone have information about the moments leading up to the shooting or the people who were present that night?