FEDERAL WAY, Wash., April 24 (UPI) -- A Washington man who allegedly killed four people before police shot and killed him Sunday had a background of violence when he was a minor, police said.
At age 17, Dennis Clark III was charged as a juvenile for shooting a former girlfriend with a BB gun, the Seattle Times reported Wednesday.
Court documents filed in Snohomish County eerily foreshadowed Clark's alleged final acts of violence during which he shot and killed his 25-year-old girlfriend and three witnesses Sunday night at a Federal Way apartment complex, the Times reported.
Court papers showed the former girlfriend said Clark was controlling, had "an anger problem" and was known to carry a knife. He slapped her in the face during an argument and had also punched walls and doors.
Clark did not have a criminal history, but had been reported to police in Seattle and Federal Way for alleged domestic violence involving verbal abuse. He wasn't arrested in those cases because there had been no allegations of physical assault, said Federal Way Police Chief Brian Wilson.
Police said Clark's 25-year-old girlfriend was not the victim in either of the earlier reports.
