White Center man slain; 3 teens arrested

Three teenage boys have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a White Center man after he apparently caught them burglarizing his home Friday morning, police said.

The suspects are two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old, said King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart. Detectives believe the 15-year-old is the shooter, he said.

Investigators said the victim, identified by police sources as 46-year-old Craig Hoffman, saw the boys either inside his home or just leaving as he returned to the house in the 11000 block of 14th Avenue Southwest. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots around 9 a.m. and seeing three young men wearing puffy black jackets running from the scene.

Nobody witnessed the shooting, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Georgia Turner, 81, who with her husband, Luther, also 81, lives across the street from the Hoffman residence, heard three shots.

"I looked up and saw some kids running down the street. 'Oh, it must have been fireworks,' " Georgia Turner said.

At first she believed it was a juvenile prank, as she lives near Mount View Elementary School.

"Pretty soon I heard another noise, and I went out, and I saw some of my neighbors. A man was shot. I looked and saw it was Craig," said Turner.

Police arrived to find Hoffman lying dead on the side of the road with at least one gunshot wound.

Two arrests were made at about 3:40 p.m., and the third teen was arrested about 20 minutes later. Investigators interviewed the teens Friday afternoon before they were booked into the King County Youth Service Center.

Mount View Elementary was locked down for about two hours as detectives searched for the shooters.

Sheriff's officials released no other information on the suspects.

Outside Hoffman's home Friday morning, sheriff's deputies used police vehicles to block the body from view while they collected evidence and waited for the medical examiner to arrive. Hoffman lived at the home with a woman and his two young daughters, said Urquhart.

Georgia Turner said there actually were four children at the residence.

She said she'd talked to Hoffman on a casual basis, such as when they were both going to their mailboxes. The Turners built their home on that street in 1955, and they have seen the area change from being mostly residential to having a good number of apartments.

"He was just a nice neighbor," she remembered about Hoffman.

Turner also recalled how last year, when the neighborhood school was being remodeled and the two youngest Hoffman children had to take a bus, "He'd walk the kids to the bus stop, and he stood with them until they got on the bus. He was a good father."

Turner said about four years ago Hoffman put windows in her family home.

"He did a good job," she said.

Seattle Times reporter Erik Lacitis and news researcher Gene Balk contributed to this report.

Brian Alexander: 206-464-2026 or balexander@seattletimes.com

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com