18-year-old Renton man charged in Bellevue theater shooting

BELLEVUE, Wash. - An 18-year-old Renton man was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder, accused of firing a sawed-off shotgun into the chest of a Bellevue teen in the parking lot of the AMC Factoria 8 movie theater on July 7, King County prosecutors said.

Carlos Anthony Espinoza was arrested at his home, where police found a hacksaw and the shotgun’s sawed-off barrel in his bedroom along with shotgun shells that matched shells found in his car and at the shooting scene, charging papers said.

Police recovered a 12-gauge shotgun on the back seat of his vehicle, a silver Lexus with distinct body damage, according to the charges, the Seattle Times reported.

Espinoza was also charged with unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun. He remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail, jail records show.

Deputy prosecutor Elaine Lee said Espinoza shot the 17-year-old at point-blank range.

"Although there were several witnesses nearby wanting to provide aid to the victim who lay there in the middle of the parking lot, they were deterred by the defendant," who paced between the victim, the victim’s car and his own vehicle several times before driving off "in his silver, dented Lexus sedan," Lee wrote.

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