EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with new information from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
A 19-year-old Auburn man was sentenced on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025 to more than 23 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a passenger aboard a Metro bus in White Center in 2023.
Defendant Miguel Rivera Dominguez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the Oct. 3, 2023 killing of 21-year-old Marcel Wagner, who was shot multiple times while sitting on the bus near 15th Avenue SW and SW Roxbury Street.
Surveillance video showed Wagner wearing headphones and appearing to be asleep when Rivera Dominguez, who had boarded earlier wearing a ski mask, pulled out a handgun and shot him multiple times at point-blank range without warning.
Prosecutors wrote that Wagner “never spoke to the defendant and offered no provocation or threat whatsoever.” Rivera Dominguez and another person then fled, with Rivera Dominguez changing clothes at a nearby Boys and Girls Club before leaving the area.
“This crime bears few of the hallmarks of a crime triggered by incomplete juvenile brain development: it was premeditated, carefully planned and carried out,” prosecutors wrote.
State law sets the sentencing range for first-degree murder at 240 to 320 months, or 20 to 26 ½ years. Prosecutors asked the court to impose 252 months, or 21 years, while the defense requested an exceptional sentence downward of 10 years.
The judge ultimately sentenced the defendant to 280 months, or more than 23 years, followed by 36 months of community custody with the Department of Corrections.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Lauren Burke handled the case for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
This being state time, he might do 10 years in convict college for a premeditated murder and then get out when he’s 35 years old ready to impress. Hope the first person he impresses is the daughter of the person who things this is “justice”.
And why don’t we have the death penalty? ‘oh yea that would be inhumane,,,,,,
People who don’t know the facts of the case or the people involved shouldn’t be passing judgment. If you really care about young people getting killed, work to get guns off the streets and to connect youth with positive role models and economic opportunities. You’d love to believe this is an evil person, but behind all of these stories is someone’s kid who made a wrong turn. We need to take better care of our young people.