Last published at August 10, 2009 at 11:27 PM

Skyway shooting victim dies; boyfriend held

A 19-year-old woman allegedly shot by her boyfriend last week in Skyway has died.

Seattle Times staff reporter

Three weeks ago, a King County sheriff's detective issued a safety-advisory bulletin, warning fellow officers that Louis Guswalter Parker III — who is also known as Bart Parker — was a felon known to carry firearms, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Parker is now being held on $1 million bail, accused of shooting his girlfriend in the head with a .22-caliber handgun, according to documents filed Thursday charging Parker with first-degree domestic-violence assault.

On Monday afternoon, the 19-year-old victim, Markesha Monroe, died at Harborview Medical Center, said Ian Goodhew, deputy chief of staff to King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

Police continue to investigate the circumstances of Monroe's shooting in Skyway, he said. Goodhew said prosecutors will wait to make a final charging decision until after an autopsy is done to see "what the evidence suggests in terms of an intentional homicide."

According to Deputy Travis DeFries, King County sheriff's spokesman, Parker's family helped set up his surrender Sunday after Parker's name and photo were released to the media last week.

"We got him in custody because of the media getting his photo out there. The heat got to be too much," DeFries said. "His family set up the surrender, though I'm not sure how that all went down."

Parker, 19, has a lengthy juvenile-criminal record and is a known member of the Westside Street Mobb street gang, according to charging papers. Since becoming an adult, he twice has been booked into the King County Jail on investigation of unlawful possession of a firearm, the charging papers say.

Prosecutors requested the high bail amount based on the "serious, violent nature of this crime and the defendant's obvious commitment to a lifestyle that includes guns and crimes," the papers say.

Police and medics were called to a house in the 7600 block of South 125th Street in Skyway around 12:20 p.m. Thursday. They found Monroe in a back bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head, according to charging papers. Detectives later found a spent .22-caliber casing on the bed, though a gun was not recovered at the scene, the papers say.

Lakaia Dade, the owner of the house and Monroe's housemate, told detectives she was sleeping but could hear the couple arguing in the bedroom shortly before a single gunshot was fired, according to the court documents. She tried to go into the bedroom, but the door was locked.

Parker then opened the door, and Dade saw Monroe lying motionless on the floor, the papers say. According to Dade, Parker claimed Monroe had been shot while she was playing with a gun, the papers say.

Dade's daughter was also home at the time and was in a different bedroom. She heard Monroe say, "Stop, Bart," immediately followed by the sound of a gunshot, according to charging documents.