Federal Way man named his killer before dying from gunshot wounds, prosecutors say

The day before his 43rd birthday, Jeremy Fogelquist was shot five times inside his Federal Way home and named his estranged friend as the gunman in phone calls to his wife and 911, according to King County prosecutors.

He died from his injuries soon after arriving at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

Also killed in the May 1 shooting was the Fogelquist family dog, a pit bull named Polly, whose howls of pain were captured on neighbors' Ring cameras along with the sound of a dozen gunshots and Fogelquist's cries for help.

Daniel Bray, 42, was charged Wednesday with premeditated first-degree murder and first-degree animal cruelty, four days after he was arrested outside a Spokane bar and brought back to King County. He remains jailed in lieu of $5 million bail.

Charging papers say Bray's friends and relatives told investigators he'd recently experienced a "psychotic break," was having paranoid delusions about pedophile and prostitution rings and was convinced a Starbucks barista had tainted his drink and was controlling his mind.

Fogelquist called 911 at 10:30 a.m. on May 1 and reported he'd been shot in the head and chest by Bray before the call abruptly disconnected, the charges say. His wife, who was at work, and a neighbor who had heard gunshots also called 911.

When police arrived at Fogelquist's house in the 31400 block of 40th Avenue Southwest, officers found him on the floor with his dead dog, a cellphone and several fired shell casings nearby, charging papers say. Fogelquist told officers that although the person who shot him had been wearing a mask, he thought it was "Daniel Bray," according to the charges. He was unable to elaborate and died at the hospital without providing additional details.

Detectives learned during the investigation that Fogelquist and Bray went to college together, had been friends for 10 years and had a "side project" assembling guns in Fogelquist's attached garage, the charges say. They became estranged after Bray used a racial slur in a discussion about Fogelquist's biracial stepdaughter, and Fogelquist told his wife that Bray was no longer welcome in their home, according to the charges.

Surveillance video from nearby houses showed a man later identified as Bray park his red Subaru wagon with custom wheels outside a house a few blocks to the north, then walk to Fogelquist's residence, charging papers say. One camera captured Bray walking into Fogelquist's front yard, followed by the sound of 12 gunshots before Bray was again seen "nonchalantly walking" away and out of the camera's range, according to the charges.

An autopsy later revealed that Fogelquist suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds to his foot, leg, shoulder and ear and a fatal gunshot wound to his chest, the charges say.

In interviews with Bray's family members, detectives learned Bray had arrived unannounced at a relative's home in Nevada a few weeks before the shooting and claimed that someone named "Jeremy" was involved in a pedophile ring, had placed a GPS tracker on his car and was out "to get him," charging papers say. He also spoke about his infatuation with a woman who works at a Spokane bar, "whom he planned to impregnate in the delusional belief that he could save her from a prostitution ring," the charges say.

According to the relatives, Bray left Nevada on April 26, planned a route back to Spokane he believed would avoid automatic license plate readers and shut off his cellphone so he couldn't be tracked, according to the charges.

Detectives confirmed Bray frequented a Spokane bar and had become infatuated with a female employee.

On Saturday, Spokane police set up covert surveillance around the bar, the charges say. Bray's cellphone was apparently turned on and accessed cell sites in downtown Spokane a little after 1 p.m.

Seven minutes after his cellphone was turned on, Bray was arrested as he walked toward the bar and was then turned over to Federal Way police, charging papers say.

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 11:44 PM.