Suspect in shooting at cabin is sought
An arrest warrant was issued for Jose R. Santos, 24, with bail set at $1 million in what investigators said was the apparent revenge shooting of Jesse Perez, 27, of Seattle, last Thursday at a cabin on Lake St. Claire.
Charges of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree robbery, both with a deadly weapon, were filed Monday against Santos in Thurston County Superior Court.
According to court documents, Perez was a witness against Santos during a drug-related criminal trial in King County.
Investigators wrote in court documents that Tianna M. Navarro, 22, a nightclub dancer, asked Perez to meet her for drinks in Seattle and persuaded him to go with her to the cabin, where they drank cognac and some "intimacies" occurred.
Perez fell asleep, possibly after being slipped a tranquilizer, and awoke to see Santos, who pistol-whipped him in the face and beat him, according to the court papers.
He told investigators he tried to run, heard gunshots and knew he had been hit, adding that Santos told him, "You rat, I'm going to rob you and put you to sleep," investigators wrote.
As Perez hid in the lake, Santos drove away in a Cadillac that later was found abandoned in a Lacey shopping center, and Navarro drove off in Perez's 1999 Yukon GMC, which was found near her home in Seattle when she was arrested, according to the court documents.
She was jailed for investigation of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.
Perez was released from Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia after treatment for three bullet wounds in the buttocks and lower extremities and then went to Central Washington and was trying to hide when detectives found him to seek the identity of his assailant, investigators wrote.