Update -- Man Charged In Murder Pleads Guilty To Robbery

EVERETT

A 19-year-old man facing a murder charge for shooting a Lacey restaurateur pleaded guilty this week to a Mountlake Terrace robbery in which another restaurateur was pistol-whipped and cut with a knife.

CongDahn Tran faces between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to first-degree robbery. He is believed to be part of a group of young men involved in as many as six robberies of Chinese restaurants in Snohomish, King and Thurston counties, said Deputy Prosecutor Doug Fair.

Tran allegedly was part of a group that entered the Tea Leaf II restaurant in Lacey about closing time July 17 and shot owner Kun Ki after he interfered with them when they treated his wife and grandmother roughly. Two other men also have been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying.

On July 3, Tran and two others entered the Golden China restaurant in Mountlake Terrace and ordered customers and the owner to lie on the floor. After binding their hands with duct tape, one man pistol-whipped them, and a knife was held to the owner's throat, leaving a cut, Fair said.

A roll of duct tape left behind yielded a fingerprint and led police to one of the robbers, Khuong Tran, who has pleaded guilty to the robbery.