Kent Police believe a 24-year-old Seattle-area gang member shot and killed a 1-year-old girl in an April drive-by shooting, a retaliatory attack aimed at the baby’s father.

King County prosecutors filed a second-degree murder charge against Demartrae (Marty) L. Kime for the death of Malijah Grant. The girl was shot once in the head while riding home from the grocery store on April 16 in a car seat in the backseat of her parents car, with her mother driving and her father in the front passenger seat. The baby, who lived in Kent with her parents, died two days after the shooting.

Detectives, after an eight-month investigation that involved multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, say eight shots were fired at the car. One bullet struck Grant. Kime also faces two charges of first-degree assault for allegedly firing shots at her parents, who were not injured.

Prosecutors have requested bail to be set at $5 million. Kime is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 4 in King County Superior Court, but that date could change because of other unrelated charges he faces. If convicted as charged for the baby’s murder, Kime could face a sentence range of 41-54 years in prison, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Kime targeted the vehicle because he believed the victim’s father to be associated with a rival street gang known as Deuce 8. Kime, also known as YM (Young Marty) or Marty, is a self-proclaimed member of the Low Profile gang. He has the gang name tattooed across his chest. He blamed the Deuce 8 gang for the Seattle murder in March of John Williams, his friend and fellow gang member, according to charging papers.

“Baby Malijah, it turns out, was a blood relative of the very friend that Kime sought to avenge,” Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas said at a news conference Monday at City Hall to announce the arrest and charges.

Others at the press conference included King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, King County Sheriff John Urquhart and Seattle assistant police chief Robert Merner. The investigation into the shooting also involved the FBI, the ATF (federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) and the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Criminal Intelligence Unit.

Kime, who has a lengthy criminal record, is in custody at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac on an unlawful possession of a firearm charge.He has been in custody for several months. His criminal history includes multiple assault and robbery convictions. His last known address prior to detention was in Auburn.

Intensive work leads to arrest

Thomas said the investigation has involved 46 search warrants, the review of approximately 71,000 social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat), a detective’s narrative of more than 1,000 pages, 213 witness interviews and more than 110,000 phone call record reviews.

“Our investigation indicates that Kime was not the only participant in this terrible murder,” said Thomas, who declined to reveal how many other suspects police might be looking for. “We continue to work hard to bring everyone involved to justice.”

Detectives have not recovered the gun used in the shooting. But they matched shell casings found at the shooting scene near the intersection of Lake Fenwick Road and Reith Road to a gun that Kime posed with in a cellphone photo. The family was heading home to their apartment complex from shopping at Safeway in Kent when the shooting occurred.

A witness told police that Kime had borrowed a dark blue 2014 Chevrolet Cruze, the car used in the shooting, just a couple of hours before the shooting. Investigators found a fingerprint of Kime inside the vehicle’s glove box. Kime’s cellphone records placed his phone near the shooting as well as where he borrowed the car from in Kent, based on cell tower use by his phone.

Witnesses told detectives about the ongoing gang feud, including the shooting death on March 19 of Williams.

Detectives also obtained a cellphone video showing Kime one day after the murder of the baby girl holding up a Deuce 8 hand sign with one hand and pointing a middle finger at the sign with his other hand. At the same time, Kime yelled “Deuce 8 … Killa.”

Kime was arrested in late April in Oregon for an outstanding warrant. Detectives later searched a storage unit that had Kime’s belongings from the trip. They found documents of Kime’s, including handwritten rap lyrics with a verse that read, “We bringin the heat, so clear the streets, hate to see a baby catch a bullet with his teeth … .”

Satterberg described the charges against Kime at the news conference and then talked about Grant, the baby girl.

“We must never forget the innocent victim of this crime,” Satterberg said. “A small child, 1-year-old Malijah Grant whose life was taken from her in this senseless act of violence. And our hearts also break for her parents who suffered life’s greatest tragedy – the loss of a child – and to have it happen in such a senseless violent manner when they were also being targeted is a horrific thing to consider.”

Satterberg added at least one more shooter is believed to be involved. He said gang violence also needs to stop, as proven by the shooting death of a child.

“We hope that this cycle of violence and retaliation that claimed the life of this small child will somehow ring a bell to encourage these groups to stop the violence,” he said. “The escalation of revenge between these two groups can only lead to more suffering and heartbreak. Now that an innocent child has been killed and identified as a victim of this senseless gang violence, we hope the whole community will rise together and say enough, it’s time to stop this senseless violence on our streets.”