The 21-year-old man will be sentenced to 25 years in prison for the fatal shooting in Kent in 2022

A 21-year-old Seattle man received a reduced sentence of 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting a man and wounding three others in incidents two years ago in Kent and Seattle.

King County Superior Court Judge Averil Rothrock convicted Dijion Ray Taylor-Johnson of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree assault on Oct. 11 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. He fatally shot 23-year-old Reese Gainer and wounded two other people at the Irwin Park Apartments, 25822 110th Ave. SE. His third assault allegation involved a shooting in Seattle on the same day as the Kent shootings on August 28, 2022.

The judge followed the sentencing recommendation of the state and the defense, which agreed to a plea deal by Taylor-Johnson “after careful negotiations between the parties, taking into account the evidence, the victim’s contributions and an expert mitigation report submitted to the state by the defense.” ”

According to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, under guidelines set by the Legislature, Taylor-Johnson would have faced up to 41 years in prison for first-degree murder. He received the minimum sentence for the murder and assault charges (53 to 70 months) and will serve the sentences concurrently.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Wicks submitted a report on the agreed sentence recommendation before sentencing.

Wicks said Taylor-Johnson, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, had no criminal record and, by pleading guilty, accepted responsibility for his actions. Counsel also filed a forensic mental health evaluation to provide further details regarding Taylor-Johnson’s traumatic life, his mental health diagnosis and mitigating factors considered by the parties in reaching their agreement.

A psychologist summarized in the evaluation that fetal alcohol spectrum disorder played a role in the incident, as well as factors related to adolescent development and guilt, as well as scientific literature that recognizes the continuation of brain development well into young adulthood. The doctor also concluded that the relative immaturity of those with a history of child abuse and prenatal substance exposure were factors.

“Due to his general mental state, Dijion’s ability to fully appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law was significantly impaired at the time of the alleged offenses,” the assessment said.

According to the report, Taylor-Johnson suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Prior to his birth, his birth mother reported daily use of crack cocaine during her pregnancy, including the day before birth. Taylor-Johnson tested positive for cocaine at birth. According to the documents, the mother had used cocaine, marijuana and tobacco during the pregnancy.

After his birth, Taylor-Johnson was placed at the Pediatric Interim Care Center, a specialized daycare center in Kent for substance-exposed babies with special needs. He was subsequently placed in foster care and later adopted in 2005. He then moved between family members over the next few years because “nobody wanted me to stay with them,” due to his behavioral issues, Taylor-Johnson said. He said he moved 12 to 13 times.

Prosecutors charged Taylor-Johnson in October 2022. Auburn police arrested Taylor-Johnson in an unrelated shooting in September 2022, and he was linked to the Kent case.

The Kent apartment shooting reportedly occurred when Taylor-Johnson feared a revenge shooting by a man (not Gainer) he had shot and wounded in Seattle earlier in the day, according to charging documents. Taylor-Johnson said he went to the apartment he was supposed to be moving out of to get some of his belongings and that the man he had previously shot in Seattle was in the apartment in Kent.

King County prosecutors have also charged J’Lijah Lee Garcia, 19, of Auburn, with first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree assault for the Irwin Park Apartment shooting in which at least 22 shots were fired. A court hearing for Garcia will be held on November 18th and the trial date is December 16th. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During an interview with investigators, Taylor-Johnson claimed Garcia fired all the shots. But investigators’ interviews with other witnesses revealed that two people had fired shots.

Kent Police arrested Garcia in December 2023. Garcia remains in the King County Correctional Facility on a $2.5 million bond, jail records show.

When officers arrived at the apartment, they found a man unconscious outside the rear sliding glass door, according to police documents. He had been shot at least twice in the upper part of his back. Another man had multiple gunshot wounds and was lying on the living room floor. Gainer was unconscious and lying on the living room floor next to the other man. He had multiple gunshot wounds.

Gainer later died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, he suffered four gunshot wounds, two of which went through his head, resulting in his death.

In addition to the Kent charges, Garcia faces two drive-by shooting charges, one for an alleged shooting about 90 minutes after the Kent shooting at a Safeway gas station on Rainier Avenue South in Seattle and the other for a shooting in the August. February 5, 2022 at a gas station in the 17200 block of 140th Avenue SE in Fairwood.

Taylor-Johnson’s sentencing was originally scheduled for September 6, but the hearing was continued when he refused to be transferred from prison to attend the hearing. Prosecutors filed a motion for reasonable force to force Taylor-Johnson to appear at his Oct. 11 sentencing hearing, which the judge granted.

When he was killed, Gainer was in the process of moving to Washington from Atlanta, Georgia. Gainer and another man were staying temporarily at the Kent apartment, having just arrived from Atlanta on Aug. 26. They were looking for a place to live.

According to court documents, Taylor-Johnson reportedly got into an argument with two of the men at a Seattle apartment, leading to the first shooting.