LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A man accused of shooting and killing a woman in Lakewood appeared in a Pierce County courtroom Wednesday.
Larie Moorer, 39, is charged with murder, assault and unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He was arrested early Tuesday morning, nearly one month after 35-year-old Leslie Crossley's death. According to court documents, Moorer and Crossley were previously in a romantic relationship.
On Jan. 22, Lakewood officers were dispatched after multiple people reported shots fired in the 5100 block of Chicago Avenue Southwest. At the same time, a woman called 911 and said her passenger had been shot. The woman pulled over outside a nearby hotel to meet first responders.
Officers arriving at the Holiday Inn Express in the 11700 block of Pacific Highway Southwest found the vehicle with Crossley in the passenger seat suffering from a gunshot wound. Medics attempted life-saving measures, but she died from her injuries. The driver was uninjured, and her 2-year-old daughter, who was sitting in the backseat, was narrowly missed by a bullet.
The suspect told police the victim had stolen drugs from him days before the shooting, which other witnesses corroborated, according to probable cause documents.
Court documents allege on the day of the shooting, Moorer pretended to be someone else and texted Crossley to meet up. Multiple text messages were exchanged, which resulted in a planned meeting location and time with Crossley and who she thought was someone other than Moorer.
According to court documents, Crossley's friend was picking her up from her home to take her to the meeting. Moments after she got into the passenger side of her friend's car, someone approached and shot at her multiple times.
While searching through Moorer's phone records, investigators found multiple incoming and outgoing calls from the phone number that set up the meeting with Crossley. The number used was also connected to Moorer's public Facebook page.
In court documents, investigators said the encounter "appears remarkably precise and accurate."
The entire incident was caught on nearby surveillance cameras.
Footage shows a man pulling into a parking lot near Crossley's home. He parks his car and turns off his headlights. He is then seen exiting his vehicle and walking toward Crossley's friend's vehicle, parked in front of her house. It was evident to investigators he was trying to stay out of view. As the victim is seen walking to her friend's car, the man is seen running directly toward her and starts to shoot at her.
Moorer's cellphone records show his phone moving toward the victim's house less than 15 minutes before the shooting.
His bail was set at $2 million.