Kent Man Charged With Manslaughter In Fatal Shooting of Enumclaw Teen

A 25-year-old Kent man accused of fatally shooting his teenage girlfriend last winter was charged today with first-degree manslaughter.

According to charges filed by King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carla Carlstrom, James Radtke accidentally shot Kelsey Carter while she was sitting on his lap. According to charging papers, he had been drinking at the time of the Dec. 11 incident.

Radtke and another man at the residence in the 33900 block of Southeast Green River Headworks Road at the time took Carter, 16, to Enumclaw Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Radtke was taken into custody Tuesday for investigation of manslaughter after detectives asked him to come in and discuss the case. He was being held in lieu of $100,000 in bail money, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Radtke will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Aug. 4 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

According to charging papers, Radtke said that he and Carter were involved in a sexual relationship and were living together at his parents’ house and with friends after he was evicted from his Enumclaw residence in early December. Radtke said he met Carter four or five months before her death when she began baby-sitting his two young children.

Carter had been reported as a runaway to Enumclaw Police on Oct. 19.

On the night of the shooting, Carter’s mother reportedly called 911 to report her daughter was with her 25-year-old boyfriend and had been seen smoking outside a residence.