By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The attorney representing a 23-year-old Washington state man who will spend nearly 20 years in prison for the second-degree murder of a rideshare driver in January 2024 made the argument that his client was “mesmerized” by videos about guns and the Second Amendment, in seeking a lighter sentence, according to Seattle’s KOMO.
Alex Waggoner, who was 21 at the time, drew a sentence of 19 years and 7 months for killing Abdikadir Gedi Shariif in Edmonds, a suburban community north of Seattle.
This case was followed closely by KOMO News reporter Jeremy Harris, whose video analysis after Waggoner was sentenced has been viewed by a lot of people. Reaction to the KOMO reports has not been sympathetic to Waggoner.
Waggoner had been drinking the night of Jan. 3, 2024 and was walking to a store to purchase more alcohol. He was armed with a handgun, but did not have a concealed pistol license. As he was crossing the street, in a crosswalk, Shariif was on the job and was distracted by a cellphone call, and narrowly missed Waggoner. When Shariff rolled down his window to apologize, Waggoner drew his pistol and fired 11 rounds at him. He was fatally wounded by a bullet to the head.
All of this was captured on video.
Convicted earlier this year and sentenced in mid-September, Waggoner’s defense provided documents relating to his troubled childhood, and his problems with drugs and alcohol. One of the documents noted, “When he was 19 or 20 years old, Mr. Waggoner was first exposed to various Second Amendment advocate channels on YouTube that discussed various dangers in the world and presented this as news coverage of all the potential ways one would be in danger in the public. He eventually subscribed to at least 10 different channels and became increasingly obsessed with these beliefs that the only way to protect himself was through firearms.”
Later in the narrative, it was revealed that at the time of his arrest, he was carrying two handguns and four knives, and was wearing body armor.
This all came up at sentencing, when Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent made it clear he was not buying the arguments for leniency.
“There are lots of videos on gun safety, lots of videos on protecting yourself,” Judge Okrent admonished. “Not one video says take out your gun and shoot somebody in the dark when somebody is trying to apologize to you for a mistake.”
TGM spoke with reporter Harris, who noted in his most recent report how the judge continued to reprimand Waggoner and his defense attorney during sentencing.
“He accidentally almost hit you and stopped his car, and he tried to apologize,” Judge Okrent said at the time, as detailed in Harris’ report. “Very few people in that situation would pull out their gun and empty 11 bullets into a man.”
The unusual explanation for Waggoner’s behavior did not pass muster with viewer reactions to the KOMO reports. The majority of viewer remarks supported the prison sentence, and a few suggested he should have gotten a life sentence.
Washington’s concealed carry statute dates back to the mid-1930s, and has been updated occasionally. However, Washington was one of the first “shall issue” states—it has a strong right-to-carry provision in the state constitution—and a new law requiring completion of a safety course takes effect in May 2027. It will probably be challenged in court.
