Suspect in Ballard clerk's slaying ordered held in custody

A judge this afternoon ordered the suspect in the fatal shooting of a Ballard convenience store clerk to be held in custody pending the filing of charges, likely first-degree murder.

The suspect, 17, is expected to be charged as an adult in connection with the slaying Sunday morning of Manish Melwani. During this afternoon's hearing, a relative of the victim lashed out at the suspect, cursing at him.

Charges will likely be filed on Thursday.

The suspect is already facing a felony third-degree assault and attempted robbery charges in an unrelated case, according to juvenile court documents.

Those charges stem from a fight at Ballard High School, where he was taking summer school courses in July of 2008.

In that incident, he and two others jumped a 14-year-old student and told him to empty his pockets, according to charging papers.

The victim later identified the youths involved in the attack, according to charging documents.

A hearing for that case was scheduled for Thursday morning.

The suspect, a former student-athlete at Ingraham High School, was arrested Monday afternoon in connection with Sunday's slaying of Melwani. The teen was arrested about 3 p.m. Monday at a home in the 900 block of Northwest 60th Street, not far from the convenience store, police said.

Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson said information was developed during the course of the investigation that was passed on to SWAT team officers, who arrested the suspect. Jamieson said police are "pretty confident" the suspect was the gunman being sought for the slaying of the clerk at the Pit Stop Express and 76 gas station, identified by relatives as Melwani, 28.

The suspect was booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of murder, police said. His name was not released because he is a juvenile. A source close to the investigation said the suspect just turned 17 earlier this month. He is scheduled to make an appearance in court this afternoon at 2:30.

The home where police arrested the suspect is a white, Tudor-style house on a quiet and tidy street in Ballard. Both that house and two adjoining homes were cordoned off by police tape Monday night, although residents of the other houses were able to come and go.

Also behind the police tape was an older, rusting Cadillac. Neighbors said they had seen the car towed away early Monday.

Neighbor Emmy Jordan said the house has been in the same family for several generations. Lately, she said, "it's been weird around there, with lots of strange teenaged kids coming and going and no adults around." She did not know whether any of the young people she had seen was the suspect.

There was no answer at a phone number listed for the home's owners.

Melwani was shot about 6:30 a.m. Sunday by a man whose disguise prevented police from providing much of a description. Police described the gunman as thin, about 5 foot 10, and said he could be in his mid-20s.

Video from the store shows the man wore a dark-colored beanie cap with the snowboard-designer name "Burton" printed in gold, sunglasses and a dark-colored bandanna, which had stars on it. The man was wearing a dark jacket, dark pants and black shoes with a white stripe on them. Witnesses said he carried a satchel.

Melwani's sister, Pooja Herkishnai, said her brother, whom she considered more like a son, didn't deserve to be shot to death at a job he enjoyed. '

"All the family wants to meet this person and ask why he did this to us," she said of the gunman. "He doesn't know what we have lost."

Customers of the Pit Stop Express and 76 gas station, on 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 58th Street, stopped to offer condolences Monday.

Melwani had lived in Lynnwood and was originally from Surat, India. Family members and co-workers remembered him as a quiet, friendly man who was happy with his work and took meticulous care of the black 2008 Honda Civic he bought last year.

Herkishnai took Melwani to work every day before he bought the Honda, but after he bought the car the two were still as close as they had been before.

"Wherever he had to go, he'd always take me with him," she said.

Herkishnai said Melwani was a gentle man who never watched violent movies — he enjoyed comedies and playing cricket games on his computer in his spare time, she said.

"He didn't deserve this. We were planning to get him married this year."

Convenience-store owner Bobby Sangar said Melwani was a quiet, hardworking man who will be missed by the station's regular customers. "He was nice to all my customers," he said.

A memorial of cards, candles, flowers and letters lined the pavement in front of the store on Monday. Sangar has began collecting donations for the slain clerk's family.

Sangar said police were investigating a bag left near the scene that may have been dropped by the gunman before he fled on foot. Sangar said an officer told him they would check the bag for DNA evidence.

Police declined to discuss the bag on Monday.

Melwani's slaying is Seattle's seventh shooting death this year, and the city's 12th homicide of the year — which doesn't include vehicular homicides.

His slaying came during an unusually violent span of four homicides in eight days.

On July 19, Teresa Butz, 39, was stabbed to death after a man entered her home at about 3 a.m. in South Park. A suspect, Isaiah Kalebu, has been arrested and is being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $10 million bail.

Last Tuesday, a transient man was fatally shot near a homeless camp in a wooded area called "The Jungle" near the Interstate 5 and I-90 interchange. Police are investigating that incident as a homicide, but a suspect hasn't been identified and there were no witnesses.

On Wednesday, Aaron Sullivan, 18, was fatally shot as he sat in his car in the Leschi neighborhood. Tristan Appleberry, 19, was charged Monday with second-degree murder in connection with the slaying.

Phillip Lucas: 206-515-5632 or plucas@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan contributed

to this report