15-year old Washington girl shot and killed by man on random shooting spree

Molly Conley, age 15

15-year old Molly Conley was celebrating her 15th birthday with friends, and was walking on a sidewalk, when a man drove by and opened fire, hitting her in the head and killing her.

The man went on to fire randomly at other people and homes.

Police were eventually able to track down the suspect, Erick N. Walker, 26, of Marysville.

Molly was apparently chosen at random.

From an article and news video:

Police said Walker acted alone and did not know Conley, or any of the other homes or targets he allegedly shot at. ... 

Police interviewed five of Conley’s friends who were with her on June 1 when she was shot at 11:15 p.m. Two of Conley’s friends described a vehicle that had passed them when Conley was shot. They each also said they heard a “pop” as the car passed them.
A few hours after Conley was shot, police responded to calls of additional shootings in the area. 

“There were several reports of shots fired that same night,” Speyer said. 

When police responded to various locations within Marysville, they found a bullet embedded in a wall in one location and property damage from gun fire in another location. Police also investigated a witness report that they had seen a man in the area running with a rifle, but they were unable to locate a suspect. No one was injured in those incidents. 

According to Speyer, police began to piece together information with bullet casings collected from the various scenes. Experts matched the bullets with 30-caliber carbine weapons recently purchased around the area and were also able to scrape paint off the side of a car damaged on June 1 in a hit-and-run incident near where Conley was shot, with police believing the perpetrating car to be the suspect. 

Investigators at the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab determined a variety of models of car the paint from the hit-and-run car could have come from, and police were able to pair that information with the 30-caliber carbine owners in the area. Detectives matched Walker with owning both a 30-caliber carbine gun and a car with a consistent paint type from the hit-and-run.

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