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Man accused of stealing rifle during May protests charged in Renton shooting

Jacob D. Little is accused of firing shots into a crowd in a Renton parking lot on Aug. 30 and injuring a teen boy.

An Everett man charged last month with stealing a rifle from a burning Seattle police car during the unrest in May has now been charged in a shooting in Renton that wounded a 15-year-old boy.

Charging documents filed Thursday by the King County Prosecutor’s Office say that Jacob D. Little fired shots into a crowd and struck an innocent bystander on Aug. 30, just days before police arrested and charged him with stealing an M-4 police rifle during the fiery protests in downtown Seattle on May 30.

The county prosecutor charged Little with shooting the boy, who survived, when several people started firing guns at a car meet at 2 a.m. in the Uwajimaya parking lot in Renton.

Charging documents say Little was identified, in part, through social media videos that circulated after the crowd of 200 onlookers posted videos.

Little will be arraigned on the state charge next week.

He’s been in federal custody since September, while Seattle police investigators say they ID’d him as the man who walked up to a burning police patrol vehicle during George Floyd protests on May 30. Video posted on social media shows the man reaching into the back of the patrol vehicle and grabbing the M-4 police rifle inside a rifle case.

Credit: Seattle police
A Seattle police photographer captured a photo of Jacob Little during protests on May 30, 2020.

“We’ve raised him right. He’s a good kid. We’ve never heard anything bad about Jake,” said Ed Little, Jacob’s father, when interviewed by KING 5 last week.

Little said the family was blindsided by his son’s arrest.

Jacob Little has no criminal record, according to federal documents.

He worked a steady job at Cintas Janitorial in Everett and part time at Judd and Black appliance store.

Federal charging documents say a tipster alerted police that Little had stolen the rifle from the patrol car and was attempting to sell it.

The rifle has never been recovered.

Charing documents in the Renton shooting say Little was firing a handgun.

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