By DEAN A. RADFORD
dradford@rentonreporter.com

A 35-year-old Auburn man has been charged with assault for allegedly shooting at a vehicle near Lakeridge Elementary School on West Hill near Renton after he wasn’t paid for a half-pound of marijuana.

Numerous 911 calls were made the night of March 29, reporting the sounds of gunfire. The driver was shot in the back while he sat in the driver’s seat.

Justin Wayne Ice was charged Sept. 23 with one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault.

He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Oct. 7. He was arrested on Sept. 19 and released the next day.

Ice told investigators he is a licensed medical-marijuana seller; a quarter-pound of marijuana sells for $700 he told them, according to charging documents.

The transaction was arranged for near Lakeridge Elementary School at about 11 p.m. on March 29 for a quarter-pound of marijuana. At the meet, the buyer wanted an additional quarter-pound of the drug.

But Ice needed more bags to package the marijuana, so they drove to the Safeway store on Henderson Street to buy baggies, according to charging documents. The buyer had arrived in a Chevrolet Tahoe, which had remained behind.

Ice told investigators that as they packaged the marijuana, the buyer threw down several counterfeit $100 bills, grabbed the marijuana and ran to the Tahoe, according the charging documents.

Ice tried to follow the Tahoe in his own car; he told investigators he lost sight of the SUV and didn’t fire his gun. But detectives contacted a shooting victim at Harborview Medical Center, who was the driver of the Tahoe.

Investigators tied the bullet found in the victim’s back and one from his Tahoe to a gun Ice had in his possession when he was detained in a confrontation with the man to whom he had sold the marijuana.

According to charging documents, Ice had circled back, confronting the buyer who was walking along 78th Avenue South. Nearby residents called 911 to report a disturbance involving a gun.