After death, a salute to life

A year ago, Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner died in a hail of bullets. Wednesday, a crowd gathered to remember -- and ponder.

By Scott North

Herald Writer

EVERETT -- A year ago there was sadness and bullets and death. On Wednesday, there was a celebration of life.

A crowd of about 100 people gathered in the parking lot at Cost Cutter Foods in south Everett Wednesday to remember Jesse Stoner and Jason Thompson, both 18.

The pair died May 30, 2000, after a fistfight they were watching outside a south Everett home escalated into gunfire. The high school buddies, best friends since elementary school, were unarmed and in a car that was being driven from the fight scene when it was riddled by a young gunman's bullets.

Their last breaths likely came in the grocery store parking lot where their shocked friends drove to seek help.

A year ago, the site became the location for a makeshift memorial visited for days by family and friends of the slain teens, as well as many strangers who were saddened by the killings.

On Wednesday evening, a crowd formed a somber semicircle around a table laden with photographs and memorabilia of the slain teens. Many of those present lit candles. The melting wax dripped down on the pavement like frozen tears.

The vigil was organized by the Stoner and Thompson families, who expressed their gratitude for the turnout.

"It is a wonderful thing to know the community will stand together, not only a year ago, but today," Pastor Reuben Sapien said.

Thompson, who was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed more than 270 pounds, was a standout athlete at Mariner High School. He was a member of the football, basketball and track teams and was days away from graduating when the bullets found him.

On Wednesday, he was remembered as a big, gentle guy whose favorite place on earth was Taco Bell, where the food was inexpensive and plentiful.

Stoner's favorite place was wherever his friends were, Sapien said. He was voted class clown in his senior year at Mariner High School and was a gifted rapper. After his killing, one of his poems was published in an anthology of verse by young writers.

Jason Thompson's older sister, Kristi Thompson, talked about what it was like watching the younger brother she used to scrap with grow into a friend. She also remembered Stoner's ability to make others laugh, and a night when he had accompanied her and friends on a drive to Seattle, almost causing several wrecks because the driver kept breaking into giggles.

Stoner and Thompson had gone with other friends to watch a fight between a 16-year-old boy and Dennis Cramm, then 17. Although no weapons were to be used, Cramm's supporters prepared for an armed confrontation. At least one was packing a pistol and others had hidden a shotgun and military-style semiautomatic rifles around Cramm's yard.

Cramm and the other boy fought, but the scuffle expanded to include Cramm's father, Dale, 45, and others. Gunshots rang out. At one point, Dennis Cramm grabbed an SKS rifle and repeatedly fired into the car that was carrying the unarmed Thompson, Stoner and three other young people.

Dennis Cramm argued that he shot in defense of himself and others. But a jury in February convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder, ruling he acted with extreme indifference to human life. His 60-year sentence is four years shy of the maximum punishment allowed by state sentencing guidelines.

Sapien on Wednesday urged those at the vigil to remember the slain young men and the value of life.

"This is reality," he said. "This is not a video game. This is not a video you rent at Blockbusters" and return after viewing.