Gang Members Kill Parents' Dreams

TACOMA - It was an average workday, and John Forrest was on his way to deliver construction materials when he passed a high school. Teenagers "doing the kind of things teenagers do," especially at graduation time, poured out of the school on the sunny afternoon.

Forrest pulled his truck over and, for 30 minutes, was overwhelmed with grief.

If it hadn't been for the two young gang members sitting before him yesterday in Judge Karen Strombom's courtroom in Pierce County Superior Court, Forrest would have realized his dream: to see his son, Robert, graduate from high school.

Strombom sentenced Nga Ngoeung, 18, to life in prison without parole for his involvement in the Aug. 25 deaths of Spanaway High School seniors Robert Forrest and Michael Welden. In addition to the sentence for two counts of aggravated murder, Strombom added 21 1/2 years for two counts of aggravated first-degree assault on Clint Thayer and Mathew Nordin, who were in the car with the victims but were uninjured.

Oloth Insyxiengmay, now 16, will be sentenced July 5 and faces the possibility of up to 75 years in prison for his involvement in the slayings. And a third gang member, a 14-year-old who testified against the other two, pleaded guilty in Juvenile Court and will remain in detention until he is 21.

The confrontation began when the Spanaway youths threw eggs in the vicinity of a home where Insyxiengmay, Ngoeung and the younger gang member had gathered.

The gang members jumped into a car, chased the other youths and eventually sprayed their car with bullets. Forrest was at the wheel when he was killed, and Welden was shot while riding in the front passenger seat. Thayer and Nordin were in the back seat.

Although the families were relieved at the May 4 guilty verdict, they said yesterday that they are finding that the sentencing does little to ease the pain of lost dreams.

"I never graduated from high school," John Forrest told the court. "Rob was going to graduate from high school and possibly go to college."

Rick and Melissa Welden spoke, too, of the pain of losing their son, Michael.

"Because of you, our lives will never be the same," Rick Welden said, looking at the two gang members.

Others who knew the youths wrote letters to Strombom detailing the impact on their lives.

"It took a long time to read them," Strombom said before sentencing. "They are so emotional and heartfelt, and what I heard this morning reflects that pain."