A Washington state man has been criminally charged two years after he fatally shot his daughter’s Black friend after she sneaked him into her bedroom.
The Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced Monday that Charles Heller, a 49-year-old Everett man, has been charged with second-degree murder two years after he fatally shot 21-year-old Dustyn Hunt, the young Black man his 20-year-old daughter Lauryn was dating.
The shooting happened after Heller went to his daughter’s room after he and his wife heard her talking and laughing with someone. When Heller went to his daughter’s bedroom door, he was armed.
Earlier in the day on Feb. 25, 2019, Lauryn Heller had sneaked Hunt into her room in her parents’ Silver Lake home without the two interacting with her parents.
At around 10 p.m. Heller sent a text message to his daughter saying her guest needed to leave within the next half hour.
Lauryn Heller left the home briefly so her dad would think they had left while Hunt, a hip-hop artist who performed under the name Nabii Kosmo, hid under her bed.
She was still outside when she saw her bedroom light turning on and off, and heard her father yelling. By the time she got into the house, Heller was yelling and pointing his gun at Hunt, who was trying to get dressed.
“[Heller’s] finger was on the trigger the entire time he was pointing the weapon,” prosecutors wrote in the charges. “This point was important to Lauryn, and played a large role in her fear, because her father, formerly in the military, has training in handling firearms and had taught her that you do not put your finger on the trigger unless you are prepared to shoot.”
Hunt said he was going to leave, but when Lauryn put herself between him and the gun, he pushed the weapon away from her, knocking Heller to the ground.
Heller stood up aimed for Hunt’s shoulder and fired. He then walked into the kitchen, set the gun down, and told his wife to call for an ambulance.
Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies received two calls from the residence that night, one from Lauryn, and the other from Heller’s wife.
Hunt was declared dead when medics arrived.
Heller later told investigators he thought Hunt was armed, although he was not.
A year after the incident, Lauryn shared her story of what happened in a video posted by an advocacy Facebook group called Justice for Dustyn Hunt Coalition. Lauryn reshared the video at the time to her own Facebook page with the message, “Please take the time to watch this and share this if you’re even remotely my friend. We need to raise awareness. White privilege is real. Dustyn was the kindest soul and my father lost his own self control and KILLED him yet wasn’t even CHARGED with anything. Here’s my account of what I saw.”
It’s not clear why it took two years for charges to be filed against Heller.
“This was what I was waiting for,” Lisa Hunt, Hunt’s mother, wrote in a message to The Seattle Times on Monday. “This decision does make the pain a little easier to handle knowing justice will be served to the man who did this, and his life will be uncomfortable and he will not just be walking around like nothing happened. It also has made it so I can breathe a bit better. Some of the anger I have inside, which is quite a bit, has been lifted.”
