Posted on 07/07/2017 10:44:34 AM PDT by Drew68
Murder charge filed after Seattle woman, 29, fatally shot riding home from a wedding
All Jennifer Morrison Espitia wanted was to Uber home safely.
Instead, King County prosecutors say, she was shot dead by her husband during a drunken, nonsensical argument.
Charged Thursday with second-degree murder, Cameron Espitia, 31, is alleged to have shot Jennifer in the back of the head on Sunday while both were riding in an Uber. Prosecutors say Espitia was drunk and irate after attending a wedding with Jennifer.
“Despite the fact that he was armed with a loaded firearm, he consumed numerous alcoholic drinks and argued with his wife when she wanted him to go home instead of proceeding to the after-party,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Berliner said in court papers. “He wanted the Uber driver to drop him off ... His wife just wanted to get him safely home. …
“The defendant told his wife to ‘go (expletive)’ herself and then shot her at close range in the back of the head.”
Berliner noted that Espitia, an active U.S. Coast Guard member with ties to Crescent City, California, had several other weapons registered to himself. He is a concealed pistol permit holder with no known criminal history.
A St. Mary's College of California graduate, Jennifer Espitia had been working for a Seattle insurance firm in recent years, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The shooting occurred shortly after midnight in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.
According to charging papers, the Uber driver picked the couple up from a Courtyard Marriott hotel at 925 Westlake Ave. N. minutes before the shooting. Jennifer Espitia boarded the front passenger seat while her husband climbed into the back of the Toyota RAV4.
Speaking with detectives, the driver said the Espitias began arguing immediately. They were still arguing when a shot rang out and Jennifer Espitia slumped in her seat.
Cameron Espitia demanded to be let out of the car moments later. The driver, fearing he would be shot as well, complied. Police, called to the area by the driver, arrested Espitia several blocks away.
Jennifer Espitia was rushed to a Seattle hospital, where she was pronounced dead nearly two hours after being shot.
Writing the court, a Seattle Police Department detective said Cameron Espitia claimed he did not remember the events of the evening and asked repeatedly how Jennifer was doing.
The Ruger pistol Espitia was carrying matched the caliber of the shell casing recovered from the RAV4, the detective said, and there was dried blood on his person.
Espitia, a Columbia City-neighborhood resident, has been jailed since the shooting. He is scheduled to make an initial plea on July 13 at the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
Should have quit drinking. I'll bet you wished you had listened to all those people telling you to take it easy with the booze.
Well, now you'll have time to think about it. She was kinda cute, too. Your wife. The woman you don't even remember shooting in the back of the head.
Kinda cute> ... She was a babe!
If you are going to be shot and killed during a drunken argument, it is always best for it to be a sensible drunken argument.
The story must be wrong. Neither drivers nor passengers are allowed to carry firearms on Uber. There’s no way a shooting can have occurred in a gun-free zone.
While they’re at it they need to open a Stolen Valor investigation on this guy.
How the hell does a PO2 Quartermaster in the friggin Coast Guard earn SIX rows of ribbons in 8-12 years of service?!?!?
There's simply nothing like it for producing deadly outcomes...
But back to the story. The wife looked like a real sweetheart and absolutely didn't deserve this. He needs to pay big time.
I noticed that as well.
That is a lot of war on his chest for a Second Class.
I'm not sure it's Stolen Valor. His status has been vouched for by friends asking for a reduced bail.
Maybe the USCG just likes giving out chest candy?
Not only that, seattle.
St Mary’s College, lovely campus. Sorry to hear about this incident.
Plus I bet he gets hit with the $100 Uber cleanup fee!
I drive for Uber. It can be more than $100. The driver just needs a receipt.
Good grief, do we have to go there? He's a white guy. Not everyone with a vowel at the end of their last name swam across the Rio Grande.
I know this guy, Cameron. Great guy until he gets booze in him and then he can't stop. Had lots of friends until they got tired of the unpredictability. It stopped being funny.
Sometimes wakes up in the bushes. Can't remember anything. Having a great time and then, nothing. Where am I? Where are my clothes? What happened last night? I make a few phone calls. "Really? I did that?!?!? Tell me you're joking!"
Yes, Cameron was me and when I read this story, I thought, "There but for the grace of God..."
He's going to meet a lot of guys just like him in prison. Good guys if only they hadn't touched alcohol that one night.
Today, I am grateful for my sobriety. I am not in prison. I never killed anyone. "There but for the grace of God..."
The Ruger pistol Espitia was carrying matched the caliber of the shell casing recovered from the RAV4, the detective said, and there was dried blood on his person.
And now the poor Uber driver has a real mess to clean up in his car.
not to mention in his thoughts.
He’s just driving people to earn my wage and a gun goes off within inches/a foot of his head.
How many people need to go to a wedding armed. I carry, but, if I feel that I need to go to a wedding armed then I don’t go or I leave it in the car. I like sedate weddings that I don’t need a weapon. Since he didn’t have a car, once again, why did he go armed?
I suppose there's sensible drunken arguments. "I want a divorce." BLAM! "I'm having an affair." BLAM!
And then there's this.
"Honey, you've had too much to drink. We need to go home."
"Go f*** yourself!!!" BLAM!
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