Suspect arrested in death of 2-year-old at Federal Way IHOP

A 17-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged in the April shooting death of a 2-year-old in the Federal Way IHOP parking lot.

Charging documents and the Federal Way Police Department identified the suspect as Jayson Jack, 17, who was age 16 at the time of the crime.

He was arrested by Federal Way police at about 10 a.m. Oct. 2 in connection to the killing that occurred at about 9:58 a.m. April 4 at the restaurant, 178 SW Campus Drive. According to police, officers responded to a call about the shooting at IHOP, and a few minutes later, they received a call from St. Francis Hospital about a 2-year-old child with a gunshot wound. The child was transported to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.

Jack has been charged with murder in the first degree and two counts of attempted murder in the first degree.

Details of the investigation

According to court documents, the father of the victim told officers that he was waiting at IHOP to pick up his wife when a light-colored car pulled up in front of his vehicle, and then suddenly, a figure began shooting into his windshield. The father said that he attempted to push his children downward as he dropped to the floor. The father said he exited his vehicle and began firing his handgun as the shooter’s vehicle fled the scene.

According to documents, surveillance footage from the IHOP showed that the light-colored car, a Hyundai Sonata, arrived at the scene at about 9:40 a.m. and drove past the father’s vehicle. The driver, who was the shooter, then parked and exited the vehicle, and someone else in the Hyundai Sonata parked the vehicle at the adjacent Starbucks.

The shooter would walk back and forth between the IHOP parking lot and the Hyundai Sonata, at one point entering the IHOP before quickly leaving. The Hyundai Sonata would also drive back and forth between the Starbucks and the IHOP parking lot.

At 9:57, the Hyundai Sonata then drove to the father’s vehicle and parked in front of it before the shooter exited the passenger seat and fired multiple times at the father in his vehicle before he re-entered the Hyundai Sonata and fled the scene. Several hours later, officers would locate the Hyundai Sonata, which had bullets lodged into it. Around that same time, the vehicle’s owner reported that it had been stolen.

After interviewing multiple family members, officers found that the father of the victim had recently gotten into an altercation with his wife’s cousin’s boyfriend in which he assaulted the boyfriend, according to documents. After reviewing footage showing the shooter, the father’s wife said that the shooter was not her cousin’s boyfriend, but he did appear to be her cousin, Jack, who is the younger brother of her cousin with the boyfriend. Other family members also believed the man in the IHOP surveillance footage was Jack, according to documents.

The documents said that the wife’s cousin’s mother worked at the Starbucks adjacent to the IHOP, and while on the phone with the wife’s cousin’s boyfriend, she told the boyfriend that she had seen the father parked at the IHOP. Then, at 9:30 p.m., the boyfriend’s phone was pinging cellphone towers in Auburn. The boyfriend then called Jack, and their phones began to ping to cellphone towers in Federal Way near the IHOP and Jack’s home before and during the shooting, according to documents.

Officers then searched Jack’s home on June 26, and in his room, they found a face mask that was a match or similar to the one worn by the shooter, a sweatshirt that was a match or similar to the one worn by the shooter, and a pair of grey gloves similar to the ones worn by the shooter in the IHOP surveillance video. Officers also located .45 bullet cartridges in his room that had been stamped by the same machine as the ones found at the scene of the shooting, according to documents.

Mayor’s response

Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell said he knew there would be a breakthrough in the nearly six-month-old case, but it was just a matter of time. He said assembling all the forensic and circumstantial evidence was labor-intensive, and is hopeful the evidence gathered will hold the individual accountable.

“I’m truly proud of the hard work and what I would describe as the incredible collaboration and coordination and determination by our police department to get the forensic evidence necessary to charge this individual,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell said the crime is a tragedy not only for the family ,but also for the 17-year-old suspect, whom he said senselessly threw away his life for nothing. Ferrell said the evidence will show it was not a random act of violence, but rather, it was senseless, and people who commit such heinous crimes will be held accountable.

Ferrell said he would tell young people thinking of getting involved in crime that their character is their destiny, and the people they spend time with will likely dictate their actions and the quality of their lives.

“If young people are spending time with others that are carrying guns, using drugs, and being involved in activity, it will not end well for any of them,” Ferrell said.