SEATTLE — The hearing for whether or not the 15-year-old boy accused of shooting and killing five of his family members in Fall City will be tried in adult court was set Friday for June 2025.
The 15-year-old was charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder with a firearm enhancement.
The suspect in the killings is the son of two of the victims. KING 5 is not naming the suspect as he is a juvenile and has not been charged as an adult. He also has no prior criminal history and remains in custody.
According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, anytime a 15-year-old is charged with aggravated first-degree murder it is initially filed in juvenile court, however, prosecutors can ask a judge to move the case to adult court.
Here's what that would mean.
Prosecutors asked the judge for a hearing on June 4, 2025 where both parties will provide evidence, and the judge will ultimately make the decision on whether or not the case will be moved to adult court, which has different sentencing guidelines.
In juvenile court, if found guilty, the 15-year-old would be held at a facility for juveniles until the age of 25, which would be less than 10 years from sentencing, and released with no further sanctions.
If the case is moved to adult court and the 15-year-old is convicted, the sentence set by lawmakers is 25 years to life with presumptions of release after 25 years, which the state's sentence review board would later determine. The 15-year-old would be held at a juvenile facility until he turns 25 and would then be transferred to the Department of Corrections.
What we know about the Fall City shooting that killed 2 parents, 3 kids
The five people killed at a home in Fall City the morning of Oct. 21 were identified by the King County Medical Examiner's Office on Thursday.
The victims are: Katheryn Humiston, 7; Joshua Humiston, 9; Benjamin Humiston, 13; and parents Sarah Humiston, 42, and Mark Humiston, 43. All five victims suffered gunshots wounds and four were shot in the head, according to the medical examiner.
An 11-year-old girl, a daughter of the Humistons, survived and has since been released from the hospital.
Around 4:55 a.m. on Oct. 21, multiple people called 911 reporting a shooting in the Lake Alice neighborhood.
Among those who called 911 was the 15-year-old suspect himself, who told a dispatcher that one of his brothers had shot his "whole family and committed suicide, too." The suspect told the dispatcher he was hiding, according to a statement of probable cause.
Meanwhile, the 11-year-old girl who survived ran to a neighbor's home. She was bleeding from the neck and hand. She said she had heard gunshots and screaming inside her home and saw the 15-year-old suspect's face before she was also shot. The girl said she "played dead" after being shot until the suspect walked away and then fled the home.
The 15-year-old was taken into custody.
When deputies entered the home, they found two adults and three children dead.
The 11-year-old girl later told detectives she believed the suspect used her father's Glock handgun. The gun was kept in a lockbox and the suspect was the only one of her siblings who knew the combination, according to a statement of probable cause.
Furthermore, it appears the suspect attempted to stage the scene before police arrived to make it seem as if one of his brothers had done it. During their search, police found another Glock handgun in 13-year-old Benjamin's left hand that was lying on his chest, according to a statement of probable cause.
"[The suspect] further perpetuated the false staging by repeatedly telling the 911 dispatcher that [Benjamin] was responsible for killing all their family and then committing suicide," the statement reads.
The suspect waived his right to appear at his first court appearance on Tuesday, Oct. 22. He was represented by a defense attorney.