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Police: Man killed in Washington shooting was helping stepdaughter leave boyfriend

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Washington police Detective Dan Stanek, left, and Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone discuss during a news conference the details of the fatal shooting of Jerred Price, 42, at 475 Addison St. in Washington early Friday.

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Jerald Thompson

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The house on Addison Street in Washington where 42-year-old Jerred Price was shot to death early Friday

Jerred Price was trying to help his stepdaughter leave her 18-year-old boyfriend early Friday morning when he was shot to death by the teen as he escorted the young woman from her Washington apartment, city police said.

“We were like brothers,” said the victim’s cousin, Eadrik Davenport, while standing outside the two-story apartment hours after the shooting. “I grew up with him. I’m not surprised he’d try to help her like that.”

City police said Price, 42, of Washington, was shot twice, including once in the head, in the courtyard outside 475 Addison St. about 3:50 a.m. Jerald Thompson, 18, is jailed on a homicide charge and accused of shooting Price with a .22-caliber rifle while perched in a second-floor bedroom looking down on the courtyard, police said.

“This is just a senseless shooting,” Davenport said. “It didn’t have to happen.”

Price and his ex-wife, Darlene, who had reconciled recently, went to the apartment after receiving a call from the woman’s 16-year-old daughter, Logan Price, that she needed to leave because Thompson was armed and she feared for her safety and that of their 7-month-old son, police said. City Detective Daniel Stanek said the young parents “had a disagreement in the middle of the night,” and Logan wanted to leave.

Jerred Price and Thompson “exchanged words” inside the house before leaving, while the infant remained in the apartment with Thompson’s mother, Stanek said. They continued to argue as Jerred Price stood with Darlene and Logan Price in the courtyard area when Thompson allegedly fired two shots from the window, Stanek said, although investigators are not sure if Jerred Price was facing the apartment or walking away.

“They were going back and forth from the middle of the lawn,” Stanek said of the argument.

The child was in another upstairs bedroom with Thompson’s mother at the time of the shooting, police said. She called police to report the shooting, Stanek said.

District Judge Robert Redlinger arraigned Thompson on the homicide charge, along with two counts of reckless endangerment. Darlene and Logan Price were next to Jerred Price when the shooting occurred, but they were not injured, police said.

Thompson is being held in the Washington County jail without bond while he awaits a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for Feb. 18.

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