Washington Jurors Award $390K in Case of Boy Killed at Party

Jurors have awarded $390,000 in damages to the estate of a teenager fatally shot in 2011 at an after-hours party in Tacoma, Wash.

The News Tribune reports that the estate of 17-year-old Billy Ray Shirley III sued Bill’s Towing and Garage and Kollected Souls Security. The lawsuit contended Bill’s Towing improperly allowed a property it owned to be used as an illegal nightclub and that Kollected Souls did not provide adequate security.

Lawyers for the estate contended that the towing company was responsible for the death because it knew of the illegal nightclub but did nothing to stop it.

No one has been charged in the death.

Lawyers for Bill’s Towing argued their client was not responsible for the actions of the people who rented the property, had warned them previously to stop throwing parties there and immediately cancelled the lease upon learning of the teen’s death.