A woman who allegedly shot and killed another woman on Labor Day 2022 was sentenced to 90 months in prison after she pleaded guilty, and her charge was brought down to manslaughter in the first degree.
According to the court documents, on Oct. 25, 2024, Kaejah Duncan was sentenced to 90 months in the Department of Correction with a credit of 780 days of time served for the Sept. 5, 2022, killing of Aniyah Lowe, 19. Duncan is required to be in community custody for 36 months following her 90-month sentence, and she is ordered to have no contact with Lowe’s family for life.
King County Prosecuting Attorney Office spokesman Casey McNerthney said that the case being pleaded down came about because the defense at trial would have raised a self-defense argument based on some of the details in the case charging documents, but there’s never a guarantee of what a jury will do or what will happen at a trial.
“The guilty plea to manslaughter in the first degree gives clear accountability,” McNerthney said. “However, the facts still supported a manslaughter conviction, which is what the defendant pleaded guilty to here.”
McNerthney said the standard statewide sentencing range, set by state lawmakers, was 95 to 125 months, and the prosecutors asked the court to sentence the defendant to 110 months. He said Duncan’s defense asked for 78 months.
According to court documents, Duncan was originally charged with murder in the second degree, which has a maximum sentence of life, and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree, which has a maximum sentence of 10 years. Duncan instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree, which has a maximum sentence of life.
The judge asked Duncan to state briefly in her own words what made her guilty of the crime she had pleaded guilty to.
“On September 5, 2022, in King County, I recklessly caused the death of Aniyah Lowe by shooting at a car in which Ms. Lowe was a passenger. Ms. Lowe had sprayed me and my cousin, Monique Duncan, with bear mace before the two got in a car and began to drive away. I then fired at the car, killing Ms. Lowe,” Duncan’s statement read. “I did not intend to kill Ms. Lowe. However, I did know of and disregard a substantial risk that death would occur when I shot a gun at the car.”
Details of the 2022 crime
According to charging documents, prosecutors say Duncan shot at a moving vehicle that was fleeing a parking lot at a condominium apartment complex. Her actions “put not only those in the vehicle she shot at and killed (in danger), but also the people in the complex,” prosecutors wrote.
Also concerning was her possession of a fully automatic “ghost gun,” or an unregistered firearm, prosecutors said. They asked for $2 million bail due to the “extreme danger (Duncan) poses to the community if released.”
Lowe succumbed to her wounds at St. Francis Hospital. Charging documents indicate a 911 caller at 11:19 p.m. frantically reported that her friend had been shot.
As Federal Way police responded to the area, 911 operators received more reports of shots at the Maplewood Condominiums in the 32100 block of 46th Place SW. About 10 minutes later, while officers were searching the area, the 19-year-old woman arrived at St. Francis Hospital in a private vehicle with a gunshot wound to her back.
Witness interviews and a crime scene investigation led officers to develop probable cause and execute a search warrant for a residence in the area. By 9:30 a.m., officers had found Duncan at that residence and arrested her without incident.
Prosecutors said Duncan has a previous conviction in Pierce County for second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.
