David J. West Jr., 16, with his dad's motorcycle from the teenager's MySpace page
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Sixteen-year-old Forrest Moore of Onalaska described his slain friend as a student who got “amazing” grades, with a father who kept a fairly tight leash on him and who looked forward to one day inheriting his dad’s root-beer colored show car, a 1968 442 Oldsmobile.
David J. West Jr., 16, was one of three people found shot dead inside his Onalaska area home early Saturday morning.
“He was a rare friend, he loved life, he never got in any trouble,” Forrest said yesterday. “He pretty much got to do whatever he wanted that was legal, he had a good life.”
David, who went by D.J. died along with his father David J. West Sr. 52, and Tony E. Williams, 50, of Mineral in the West’s rental home off Gore Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A fourth individual who was wounded with a gunshot was hospitalized.
Authorities have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the suspect, 31-year-old John Allen Booth Jr. from Onalaska.
The two teenagers became best friends when they were both new at Onalaska High School, according to Forrest. D.J. came from Mossyrock and Forrest moved to Gore Road from Centralia.
The two more or less kept to themselves because they were both the type who didn’t talk much, according to Forrest.
The teenagers hung out at D.J.’s house a lot, so much that when Forrest planned to stay over again Friday night, D.J.’s father said no, because he’d been spending the night so much lately. Forrest said it made his mother cry to know he easily could have been there when the shootings happened.
Forrest said his friend’s father was somewhat strict, giving his son a curfew but letting him do lots of things as long as he knew where his son was and how to get a hold of him.
“His dad was a really great dad for him , he was like his best friend,” Forrest said.
The boys spent one day late last week helping clean up rocks from around the West’s cement fish pond. “I made $40 and that’s the only reason I could go to the fair,” Forrest said.
He said D.J. recently confided in him how tough it was going to be when his dad went away to prison soon because he’d never really been away from him.
Forrest described D.J.’s father’s trouble as coming from when he and a friend beat up some kids.
West Sr. was arrested last summer after he and two other men allegedly ambushed several teenagers camping outside Winlock when West Sr. was reportedly trying to get back money he believed some of them had stolen from him. West. Sr. admitted hitting a 17-year-old boy with a jack handle, and retrieving $4,000, according to charging documents in his case. Another man, 45-year-old Robert S. Russell, allegedly brandished a handgun and fired a shot during the incident. West Sr. has pleaded guilty but his sentencing has been repeatedly postponed, according to court records.
Forrest said he doesn’t think the weekend killing was about a drug debt, like the sheriff’s office says. D.J.’s father didn’t seem like that kind of person, he said.
“He had a lot of friends over but I knew nothing about drugs, he seemed clean to me,” Forrest said. “I just want the true story to be told, I don’t want them slandered.”
The teenager said he even met the suspect Booth Jr. at D.J.’s house when he came over one night several weeks ago with another man.
“He was really big and really scary, but quite polite,” he said. He had really huge arms, he added. “He didn’t strike me as bad.”
•••
For more details on the fatal shootings, either scroll down or click here.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter