Man faces 23 years for Auburn gas station murder

A King County judge is scheduled to sentence a teen tomorrow for an unprovoked murder that played out right in front of a sheriff's deputy. The deadly shooting happened back in 2023 when the shooter was still a minor. A warning, a report includes surveillance video leading up to the attack, but we have chosen not to show the deadly gunfire. Fox 13's Frankie Thompson has the details. We are here at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, where 20-year-old Tyreen Forks will soon learn his fate after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. July 15, 2023, was supposed to be just a regular day for 27-year-old Donald Harris. Surveillance video provided by the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office shows Harris peacefully sitting alone near a gas station in Auburn, moments that would tragically be his last. According to court documents, two stolen Kia Optimas with several people in each pulled up to Harris. Suspect Forks, who was 17 years old back then, was driving one of them. Without any hostile movement from Harris, surveillance video shows Forks extending his arm out of the driver's side window, shooting Harris twice. Detectives say Harris wasn't armed and didn't even know his killer. An on-duty King County Sheriff's deputy saw the whole thing and immediately pursued Forks In the stolen car, though he got away. At the time, an extensive investigation led to Forks' arrest in November 2024, ultimately confessing to the deadly shooting. Under this plea agreement reached with the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Forks pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement. Prosecutors will be asking the judge to set his sentence at more than 23 years in prison, followed by a mandatory community custody. The sentencing is scheduled for November 6th at 2 p.m. The victim's mother tells me she will be making a statement during the court hearing. Reporting in Kent, Frankie Thompson, Fox 13 News.