Christopher L. Chandler

Christopher L. Chandler,
18, passed away on October 28, 2007 in Mill Creek, Washington. He was born on July 25, 1989 in Everett, Washington. Christopher worked as a food server in a retirement community. He attended Lake Washington Vocational Technical School in Kirkland, Washington. Viewing will be held on Sunday November 4, 2007 at Evergreen Washelli at Bothell Funeral Home in Bothell, 18224 103rd Avenue NE, Bothell, WA. Please sign Christopher's memorial website at washelli.com.

Donations can be made to either of two Christopher Chandler Memorial Funds: Wells Fargo Bank or Washington Mutual Bank.


By TRACY JOHNSON
P-I REPORTER

Relatives of an 18-year-old Kirkland man who was shot to death outside a Halloween party early Sunday were struggling with the sudden loss and questions about why it happened.

The Mill Creek house party had ended after midnight when several fights broke out in the street. A shot was fired, killing Christopher Chandler.

Snohomish County sheriff's deputies arrested a 22-year-old Ellensburg man for investigation of second-degree murder. It didn't appear that the young men knew each ot...[more]

View Full Online Obituary and Tributes

.

Chandler's family believed the teen had been driving away from the party when he saw one of his friends fighting and stopped to help, said his uncle, Bill Chandler.

"Chris wasn't the fighting type; he was the loving type," the Bothell man said. "It's just so unexpected and so unnecessary."

The teen, the youngest of three boys, was "a happy-go-lucky kid who would do anything for anybody" and often headed over to his grandmother's house to vacuum or take out the garbage, his uncle said.

"He was a great help," said his grandmother, Louise Chandler. "He was just a member of our family we couldn't do without."

She said her grandson was always joking and laughing, especially when they talked football. He'd lived in Oregon for a few years with his mother, so he'd gently rib his grandmother when Oregon's college teams did well or Washington's didn't, she said.

He worked as a server in the dining room at Madison House retirement center in Kirkland and lived with his father. He was earning his high school equivalency certificate at Lake Washington Technical College and planned to study electrical engineering.

Detectives were interviewing witnesses Sunday, trying to sort through accounts of what happened, said bureau chief David Bales.

Investigators recovered a gun, but it wasn't clear if it was the one involved in the shooting. The suspect was booked into the Snohomish County Jail.

Chandler's relatives understood that there were at least two groups of friends at the party who didn't know each other, and that the suspect had been acting as a bouncer.

Chandler's family believes he "got shot the minute he got out of the car," his grandmother said. "I don't understand why these kids need to take guns to these parties."

P-I reporter Tracy Johnson can



The Everett Herald
MILL CREEK -- A Kirkland teen was fatally shot early Sunday after a Halloween party near Mill Creek erupted into brawling in the street.

The shooting occurred at 12:50 a.m. outside a home in the 3500 block of 164th Street SE, said Dave Bales, bureau chief for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

"Detectives have a lot of sorting out to do," he said. "There were a lot of witnesses. It was a pretty good-sized party."
Witnesses identified the victim as Christopher Chandler, 18, and said he was a student at Lake Washington Technical College. He died at the scene, Bales said.

An Ellensburg man, 22, was arrested for investigation of second-degree murder and booked into the Snohomish County Jail.

Witnesses directed deputies to the suspect, who was taken into custody at the party's location, Bales said.

Party-goers said the gathering was breaking up when several fights started among those who had attended. The people living in the house invited different groups of friends, and it was unclear whether the suspect and the victim knew each other before, Bales said.

During the fighting, somebody fired a single shot, striking the victim, Bales said.

Witnesses told deputies that the slain teen and the man had some sort of dispute earlier in the evening, Bales said.

Detectives with the sheriff's Major Crimes Unit spent much of the day searching for evidence and interviewing witnesses. For several hours, 164th Street was blocked off while detectives investigated the scene.

In the afternoon, the yellow crime scene tape was removed and Chandler's friends were allowed to lay flowers near the spot where he died. In the middle of the makeshift shrine was a picture of the clean-cut young man in a blue-and-white plaid shirt. Friends said he wanted to become an electrical engineer.

The gathering was breaking up when fights broke out in the street, Bales said. Exactly what caused the shooting remains under investigation, he added.

Many of the party-goers wore Halloween costumes.

News of the shooting rattled some who live in the neighborhood, which includes many new homes.

"Very quiet" is how Raya Vo described her neighborhood of more than two years. Vo was walking her dog, Cosmo, early Sunday morning when she was stopped by the police tape.

When Kathy Dawson, who lives a few blocks away, saw police cars and TV camera crews, she thought there could have been a car accident or even a protest over all the new homes going in.

"That would have been more likely than a homicide," she said.

Robert Boreson was less surprised. He has lived in the general area for more than 17 years.

He brought his son, Jared, 17, to the scene to remind him of the dangers that can occur at a party gone awry.

"It just brought it home that life is short and there are some bad people out there," Robert Boreson said. "I wish people would look at the preciousness of life."

The area of the shooting was just east of Mill Creek city limits. Boreson believes it might be time for neighbors to band together and look after one another.

"I'm looking at starting a block watch now," he said.
Victim struggled with gunman

Christopher Chandler's relatives say he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

By Jackson Holtz and Jim Haley
Herald Writers

MILL CREEK -- The teenager who died early Sunday outside a Mill Creek-area Halloween party apparently was struggling with the gunman before the fatal shot was fired, according to a police report filed Monday in Everett District Court.

Relatives of Christopher Chandler, 17, of Kirkland said he was a good young man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Witnesses told police Chandler was leaving a party in the 16400 block of 36th Avenue SE just before 1 a.m. Just around the corner, Chandler drove up on a fight and got out of his car, court documents said.

One man had a handgun. Chandler wrestled with the man and blows were exchanged. The man with the gun was knocked down and fired a shot as he fell to the ground, the documents said.

Witnesses pointed sheriff's deputies back to the Halloween party where the alleged gunman was identified, the documents said.

When police arrested Bryce D. Fortier, 22, of Ellensburg, they spotted blood stains on his shirt.

On Monday, Fortier made a brief video appearance in Everett District Court.

Judge Tam Bui set bail at $500, 000. Defense attorney Pete Mazzone said he will argue the bail amount at a later hearing.

Sheriff's detectives still were trying Monday to determine what problem, if any, existed between Fortier and Chandler, said David Bales, bureau chief for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

"We don't know whether this is something that developed earlier that spread out into the street or whether it was something that happened after the party broke out," he said.

Three roommates who shared the home on 36th Avenue invited their own friends to the party, he said.

"There was a diverse group of friends and it's likely that people didn't know each other," Bales said.

Detectives interviewed as many as 40 people who attended the party, he said.

Inside the home, detectives recovered a large-caliber handgun and ammunition, documents said.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy Monday but withheld the findings pending further investigation.

Several of Chandler's relatives attended Fortier's afternoon court hearing Monday.

Afterward, they remembered Chandler as a kind and good young man who wanted to become an electrical engineer.

"He was always there for me," said his grandmother, Louise Chandler of Kirkland. "He had a lot of friends and that attests to the kind of person he was."

When she had surgery, it was Chris Chandler who came over to help, she said.

Although his parents were divorced, she said they both took part in raising the teenager and his two older brothers.

"Chris was so much a part of his family," the grandmother said. "Chris was very much a family kid."

He had been living in Kirkland, attending Lake Washington Vocational Technical College and working in the dietary department of an assisted-living retirement home.

Chris Chandler had gone to the Halloween party near Mill Creek and was leaving when he stopped to intervene in the fight, his older brother, Nathan, 24, said.

"Chris was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess," he said. Bad things happen to good people all the time, "but you don't expect it to hit so close to home."

Candles flickered at a makeshift memorial at the side of the road near where Chandler fell Sunday night.

A baseball cap, flowers, rosary beads and handwritten notes surrounded a picture of the teenager.

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.