Lakewood gas station’s private guard was fatally shot. Final defendant sentenced

A man convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and other offenses for a shooting outside a Lakewood gas station that he claimed was self defense was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison.

In a jury trial in Pierce County Superior Court earlier this year, William Roy McMullen, 36, was found guilty of the Dec. 18, 2022, killing of 33-year-old Carl Wayne White. Jurors convicted McMullen of first- and second-degree murder, first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

One of two other defendants prosecuted in the case, Brandon Cajigal, described the incident as a drug robbery when he was arrested. McMullen’s trial testimony was that White wanted to buy pills from him, and he shot White in self defense after the man fired his own gun.

Surveillance video of the shooting shows that Cajigal was injured before McMullen fired at White, according to court records. McMullen’s defense attorney, Ephraim Benjamin, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Cajigal’s injury was consistent with being shot by White.

White was shot three times, and he died about nine months after the shooting in September 2023. In a victim-impact statement submitted to the court, White’s mother said her son had a heart of gold and always liked to help other people. She asked Judge Matthew Thomas to impose the maximum sentence for McMullen.

“Your honor, Judge Thomas, I’m begging you please don’t let there be any chance for William McMullen to ever get out of prison,” the mother wrote. “He will do this again to someone else and to someone else’s family.”

White was a private security guard for the gas station’s convenience store, according to prosecutors. White’s mother wrote in her impact statement that White guarded the store for about a year for $20 a night because there had been a number of break-ins.

On the morning of the shooting, he was sitting in his truck when a gray sedan parked next to him shortly after 5 a.m.

The driver was Cajigal, and he got in White’s truck for about 11 minutes before surveillance video showed two other men, McMullen and Mumit Carter-Shabazz, approach the vehicle from both sides and open its doors.

Minutes later, the video showed that Cajigal was injured. He was hopping on his leg on the passenger’s side of the truck. Then the other man on that side — identified by investigators as McMullen — walked to the driver’s side and fired a handgun into the truck multiple times.

McMullen then got in White’s truck with Carter-Shabazz and drove away, leaving White and Cajigal behind.

Carter-Shabazz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Feb. 19 for his part in the killing. He was sentenced to 21 years, five months in prison.

Cajigal, who served two years in jail while the case was pending, pleaded guilty April 3 to second-degree theft and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Prosecutors said further investigation in the case convinced them his involvement was different than it first appeared.

McMullen’s defense attorney, Benjamin, wrote in his sentencing memo that Cajigal was released from custody in return for his testimony at McMullen’s trial, and he described his testimony as pivotal to the jury’s verdict.

Benjamin also noted that two days before McMullen’s sentencing, an affidavit was filed in the court record purporting to be from Cajigal. It claimed that Cajigal’s testimony wasn’t truthful. According to court records, prosecutors spoke with Cajigal in a June 5 phone call, and he indicated that he had not written the affidavit.

The standard sentencing range McMullen faced for first-degree murder was about 34 to 45 years in prison, not including mandatory firearm sentencing enhancements that amounted to 20 years in prison. His criminal history includes convictions for drug offenses, possession of a stolen vehicle and vehicle prowling.

In other news from Superior Court

Man sentenced to 33 years for fatal shooting on Tacoma Tideflats

A man convicted of fatally shooting a man who was searching for his ex-girlfriend near the Tacoma Tideflats was sentenced Friday to 33 years, four months in prison.

Kenny Lamont Haymore, 52, was found guilty in a jury trial in March for the Oct. 1, 2022 death of 37-year-old Nicholas Ulugalu. Jurors found him guilty of first-degree manslaughter, two counts of first-degree assault and three counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors had charged Haymore with first- and second-degree murder for the shooting, but jurors convicted him of the lesser-included offense of manslaughter.

Haymore shot Ulugalu multiple times after the victim pounded on the door of a motorhome where he believed his ex-girlfriend was overdosing. Ulugalu also yelled his ex-girlfriend’s name and fired a gunshot into the ground.

The confrontation occurred in a homeless encampment near Tacoma’s TAGRO plant, on Cleveland Way between the Puyallup River and railroad tracks, according to court records.

Another man, Lawrence Edward Jerry III, was with Haymore when the shooting occurred. He pleaded guilty in January to first- and second-degree murder in the case, along with other offenses, but he was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea after he testified at Haymore’s trial. He instead pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced April 1 to two years, five months in prison.