Murder Charge Filed In Girl's Shooting

A charge of first-degree-murder was filed yesterday against Brian Kevin Porter, 19, in Sunday's shooting death of a 14-year-old Kent girl.

According to the charge filed in King County Superior Court, witnesses said Porter turned to Latasha Davis, sitting directly behind him in the back seat of his car, flipped his semiautomatic handgun over so the trigger faced up and placed the muzzle against her forehead, holding it there for several seconds.

Porter allegedly told the trembling girl he was going to shoot her, then pulled the trigger.

Davis died of a single gunshot to the head.

Prosecutors asked that bail be raised to $500,000 and said witnesses feared Porter and his family.

According to police, a girlfriend who was with Davis said the two girls had stopped off at a friend's house about 3 a.m. Sunday on their way home after a day of visiting friends. Seeing that the friend's lights were off, they headed for a bus stop on Rainier Avenue South, intending to go back to the girlfriend's house.

On their way to the bus stop, the two girls saw Porter driving his brown Cutlass. The other girl, who said she knew Davis had been seeing Porter for a few months, told police that Davis said, "Oh my God, he's going to hit me 'cause I didn't page him."

Davis' parents, Jimmy and Dona Davis, said yesterday they learned from one of Latasha's friends that Porter had allegedly seen the girl at a party the night before her death and told her to page him.

"He said if she didn't page him, he was gonna kill her," Jimmy Davis said.

According to the charges, Porter reportedly got out of his car, approached the two girls and spoke to them briefly. While they were talking, the bus they had been waiting for went by, and Porter offered them a ride.

The girls accepted, climbing into the back seat. According to the charges, Porter immediately turned the volume on the radio up, said something to a male passenger, then turned to Davis.

It was then that Porter allegedly took out his gun and killed the girl, "execution-style," according to charges.

Witnesses claim Porter told them to go along with him in saying it was a drive-by shooting.

After the shooting, prosecutors said, Porter drove to a 7-Eleven and asked employees there to call 911.

According to prosecutors, Porter has no prior convictions. In an unrelated incident, Porter is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims he ran her over in his car in February 1991.

Dona Davis said Porter may have phoned their house once or twice but she had never met the man. The girl's parents say he was not their daughter's boyfriend. If anything, they said, he was an insecure bully trying to "claim" her.

Dona Davis expressed relief that Porter had been charged with first-degree murder. "I think that's a little better than them telling me it was accidental," she said.

Latasha had mapped out her life, her family said, keeping track of weekly plans on paper. She also noted long-term goals - places she would visit, the air-traffic-control career she wanted to pursue, her plan to move back to California, where the family had lived until their move to Kent.

An arraignment for Porter has been scheduled for tomorrow.