Editor’s note: the following is a press release issued by the King County Sheriff’s Office shortly after 11 a.m. today, Wednesday. Another story will be posted when more details are available and also will be included in the next print edition of The Courier-Herald.

A 25 year-old Kent man was arrested yesterday afternoon in the shooting death of a 16 year-old girl last December. The case has been under investigation since the incident on December 11, 2010.

The man was arrested at the Regional Justice Center after detectives asked him to come in and discuss the case. He was booked into the RJC jail for Investigation of Homicide. Formal charges are expected this week, and the Prosecutor’s Office will decide on the specific charge.

The shooting occurred shortly after 8:00 PM on December 11th. The victim was a 16 year-old Enumclaw girl who was at a house in the 33900 block of SE Green River Headworks Road. The shooting occurred, and occupants of the residence took her in their truck to Enumclaw Regional Hospital but the girl was dead on arrival at about 8:20 PM.

The girl had been reported as a runaway to Enumclaw Police on October 19, 2010.

On the night of the shooting the girl’s mother called 9-1-1 to report her daughter was with her 25 year-old boy friend. She said she saw her daughter on a deck of the house smoking. But before deputies arrived, two vehicles left the residence, and the mother didn’t know if the girl was in one of the vehicles or not.

Deputies interviewed the three men at the house, including the boy friend, but they said she wasn’t there. They would not give deputies permission to enter the residence to look for her.

The shooting occurred there about 2½ hours later.