Following an officer-involved shooting in Federal Way on Wednesday, the King County Sheriff’s SWAT team arrested a 28-year-old man believed to have killed the 16-year-old Des Moines boy whose body was found in the Green River last month.
Juan and Maria Carlos Con, the parents of Juan Carlos Con Guzman – who the King County Medical Examiner says died of multiple blunt-and-sharp-force injuries – were on scene following the arrest. Con Guzman’s mother was crying as she called family members to tell them of the arrest, and the father thanked police and the media for their help during the investigation.
The Tac-30 SWAT team went to the Winco parking lot in Federal Way to arrest the suspect. When the team set off flash-bang grenades, the man ran from the parking lot and down a hill in the 100 block of SW Campus Drive pursued by TAC-30 deputies who tried to arrest him, KCSO spokesman Ryan Abbott said during a press conference at the scene.
An officer fired one shot at the suspect after he went down on his knees and removed his handgun from his waistband. The suspect then threw his gun to the side and got down on the ground and officers apprehended him.
No one was injured.
“The suspect will be booked into the King County Jail for investigation of murder,” Abbott said in a press release later Wednesday afternoon. ”Even though the suspect was not hit, in keeping with I-940, Sheriff Johanknecht has requested that the Valley Investigative Team conduct the officer-involved hooting investigation.”
The man is the second suspect now in custody on suspicion of Con Guzman’s death. On Tuesday, detectives arrested a 20-year-old Federal Way man who is also suspected of killing the teen. Police have not yet established any relationship between the two suspects.
Abbott said King County Major Crimes Detectives, who had developed probable cause for the two suspects and were in contact with Con Guzman’s parents throughout the investigation, called them on Tuesday night to notify them of their arrest of the first suspect.
Con Guzman had just started his junior year at Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines.
According to Abbott, two fishermen were walking along the bank of the river the morning of Sept. 10 in the 12700 block southeast of Green Valley Road when they saw a body in the water and called 911. The King County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit recovered the body later that afternoon.
Abbott said Con Guzman’s family had filed a missing person report at some point before he was found in the river, though the KCSO has not released information as to when that happened or how long he had been in the water.
Both suspects are being held at the King County Jail and charges are pending.
– Federal Way Mirror reporters Olivia Sullivan and Haley Donwerth contributed to this story.
OLIVIA SULLIVAN, Federal Way Mirror
Juan Carlos Con, father of Juan Carlos Con Guzman, pictured on scene in Federal Way at the arrest of a 28-year-old man suspected to have killed his son last month. OLIVIA SULLIVAN, Federal Way Mirror
Evidence from the arrest is marked on the sidewalk along Southwest Campus Drive in Federal Way. OLIVIA SULLIVAN, Federal Way Mirror
The handgun that the suspect retrieved from his waist band when deputies were attempting to arrest him. COURTESY PHOTO, KCSO
