KENNEWICK — Three years after robbers left a Kennewick 18-year-old dying in his bedroom, the suspected gunmen was arrested after a high-speed shootout near Seattle.
Lawrence Isaiah Groce, 23, is facing one count of first-degree murder in Benton County after his DNA was reportedly linked to the shotgun left behind by the Kennewick killer, according to court documents.
Groce is accused of working with two fellow gang members on a plan to rob Hunter Black, who had been involved in illegal activities to make money, show court documents.
Black died after being shot in the chest at his Yelm Street home in October 2018.
Groce was arrested Tuesday, April 2, after people in two vehicles were shooting at each other while headed north on Interstate 5 near the I-405 interchange.
Groce was booked into the King County Jail, along with two other suspects.
Black lived in the Yew Street home with his pregnant girlfriend, Cynarra Scott, and another couple.
At the time, Scott woke up to hear Black shouting at two masked men standing in the doorway. Then one of them shot Black in the chest.
A roommate punched one intruder and tried to grabbed another but the attackers got away, leaving behind the shotgun that killed Black.
3-year investigation
Kennewick investigators traced the shotgun back to a Pasco woman, who said her great-grandson, Kavonte “KC” Conley, kept it under his bed.
Through a series of tips and interviews, they learned about the robbery plan was hatched with Groce, Conley and Wardell “Eniko” Braxton at Conley’s grandmother’s house, said the documents.
Investigators were told that Groce and Conley were the men in Black’s doorway.
After the shooting, the would-be robbers drove to the Burger King at 10th Avenue and Washington Street to figure out what to do next.
Braxton also allegedly told his girlfriend the morning of the murder that Conley left for Seattle and “if (Kavonte’s) fingerprints were found, he would go to jail forever,” according to the court records.
Braxton and Conley have not been charged in the shooting or the attempted robbery.
The Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory discovered DNA on the spent shell inside the shotgun, and ruled out Conley and Braxton.
While detectives didn’t initially have a sample of Groce’s DNA, they were able to get one after interviewing him in Dec. 22, 2020, when he was in the Clark County jail on an unrelated crime.
Court documents say the WSP crime laboratory reported the DNA profile is 7.4 decillion times more likely to have come from Groce than a random individual. A decillion is a one followed by 33 zeroes.
Groce denied any involvement, and claimed his name was being brought up because the other two men were upset with him.
Father he never had
Black was an excited father-to-be who planned to turn his life around for his child, said Scott and Black’s half-sister Dalyn Larsen in an interview with the Herald in 2019.
But Black didn’t live to see his child born.
He was a Colorado state wrestling champion, had a beautiful singing voice and had a knack for making friends. But underneath his talent and charm was a man who grew up without a father and had a mother that struggled with drug addiction. That led to him getting in trouble.
He was on probation when he moved to the Tri-Cities in 2017 with the plan to turn his life around and was doing well at first.
But as he started to become more independent, he fell in with a bad crowd.
“He had a lot of good goals, but the allure of fast money is what really pulled him in. He got addicted to the fast money,” Larsen said at the time.
Even in his criminal activity, Larsen and Scott said he still stayed away from violence, and wasn’t a gang member. His catchphrase was, “Love and Hope” not “Love and Hate,” they told the Herald.
Groce Arrest
Groce was one of two men in a Kia Sorrento accused of having a shootout last week with a man in a Jeep Compass while driving north on Interstate 5 near I-405, the Washington State Patrol said.
The two vehicles crashed with a third one. Then, Groce and Jalen A. Womack, 21, allegedly ran.
Tukwila police arrested them, and a police dog found a backpack with guns inside that they reportedly thrown out. The bag had two rifles and a handgun.
The Jeep’s driver, Jaquel Demerson, 26, was wounded in the exchange of gunfire but was later booked into the King County jail.
Washington State Patrol investigators believe the shooting was gang related.
