A 39-year-old Kent man faces a second-degree murder charge for allegedly shooting a man on Aug. 31 outside of a Motel 6 in SeaTac.
Rodney Candies Wheeler, also faces charges of second-degree assault for shooting and injuring a second man inside the motel and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Wheeler remains in custody at the King County jail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent with bail set at $1 million. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 20 at the RJC, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
King County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Wheeler on Oct. 4 after tracking him down through witnesses, motel video surveillance, cellphone records and two women he had reportedly sold heroin to in a Motel 6 room earlier in the night on Aug. 31, according to charging papers. The motel is at 18900 47th Ave. S.
The incident began at about 9:58 p.m. when police were dispatched to reports of shots fired at the motel. Deputies found Justin M. Love, 28, dead in the motel parking lot from a gunshot wound to the chest. Love, of Oregon, was staying at the motel while working construction in the area.
Co-workers of Love told detectives that a man, later identified as Wheeler, had thrown a rock at their window and had done the same thing to them a week prior at the motel. Two of the men left the room to go outside to confront Wheeler, who had climbed a fence to get to his parked vehicle.
The men got into a verbal argument and Love began to climb the fence to get to Wheeler. Wheeler then pulled out a gun and fired a shot that missed the men. He then fired a second shot that hit Love in the chest. Wheeler then got in his vehicle and drove away.
The first shot fired by Wheeler reportedly entered a motel room and struck a man in the back while he stood between two beds in the room. Paramedics transported the man to Valley Medical Center in Renton. He is expected to make a full recovery from the gunshot wound.
Wheeler has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for fourth-degree assault in 2013, tampering with a witness in 2008, fourth-degree assault in 1999 and several drug charges.
