Charges filed against couple in UW shooting The shooting injured a protester who claimed he was keeping peace

Police tend to a protester who was shot during a confrontation with hopeful attendees of controversial Breitbart.com editor Milo Yiannopoulos' speech at University of Washington on Friday, Jan. 20, 2016 Police tend to a protester who was shot during a confrontation with hopeful attendees of controversial Breitbart.com editor Milo Yiannopoulos' speech at University of Washington on Friday, Jan. 20, 2016 Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Charges filed against couple in UW shooting 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Assault charges were filed against a couple Monday in the Inauguration Day shooting at the University of Washington, where protests cropped up in Red Square during an appearance by a former Breitbart News editor.

Elizabeth Hokoana, the accused shooter, was charged with first-degree assault, while her husband, Marc Hokoana, is charged with third-degree assault for pepper spraying the crowd. Both are 29.

The incident occurred amid protests outside Kane Hall, where then-Breitbart News editor and conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak. The event drew not only hundreds of ticketholders, but socialist, anti-fascist and otherwise anti-Yiannopoulos and Donald Trump protesters, as well.

The shooting of 34-year-old Josh Dukes, an Industrial Workers of the World member, was initially claimed to be an action of self-defense. However, King County prosecutors don't see it that way.

"(T)his shooting was not an impulsive act done in a moment of fear," Senior Deputy Prosecutor Mary Barbosa wrote in court documents. "(T)he defendants went to the event at the UW campus with the intent to provoke altercations with protesters who they knew would also be at this controversial event."

In the wake of the shooting, Marc Hokoana claimed responsibility and that he was defending himself against an aggressive protester. However, only weeks ago, Elizabeth Hokoana changed the story to say she was the shooter and was defending her husband.

Dukes was shot in the abdomen, but survived his wounds.

"The defendants created a situation designed to allow Elizabeth Hokoana to shoot the victim in the middle of an extremely crowded event under the guise of defending herself of her husband," Barbosa went on to write. "The degree of planning involved in this crime demonstrates the danger that these defendants present to the community."

Indeed detectives found Facebook messages sent by Marc Hokoana to a Facebook friend that morning, including:

"I can't wait for tomorrow, I'm going to the Milo event and if the snowflakes get out off (sic) hand I'm just going to wade through their ranks and start cracking skulls."

According to investigative records, Marc claimed his wife was going to be armed, but he wasn't, saying, "I'm going full melee."

"The evidence will show that these defendants took a gun into a volatile protest in Red Square, and that Marc Hokoana engaged in several provocative acts, including using pepper spray on the crowd," King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said in a prepared statement. "The crowd reacted predictably to being pepper sprayed, but the evidence will show that at the time Elizabeth Hokoana fired her pistol that her husband was not in imminent danger," he added.

Dukes told police while in the hospital that he confronted a man matching Marc Hokoana's description for spraying mace into the crowd and grabbed him. It was while he held the man that he felt a burning sensation in his abdomen and realized he was shot, incident reports say.

UW police say that about 11:30 p.m. that night, about three hours after the shooting, Marc Hokoana showed up at the campus police department to report he committed a self-defense shooting and that the weapon was in his car. He was reportedly not wearing the clothes worn by the described shooter, but otherwise matched the suspect description.

Authorities served a search warrant on the car and recovered a Glock 26 9 mm pistol registered to Marc Hokoana in a pistol case, contained in a Ziploc bag. A bagged knife was also recovered, reports say.

An examination of the gun found that eight rounds remained in the 10-round magazine. Forensic tests indicated that 10 fingerprints on the Ziploc bag holding the gun belonged to Elizabeth Hokoana. DNA recovered from the rear of the gun's slide, the gun's grip and the magazine were attributed to her, as well, according to UW police.

Several witnesses came forward with their stories and video footage of the scene. Marc Hokoana was described as wearing a leather jacket and a red "Make America Great Again" hat, which was later replaced with a yellow hat.

This is borne out by reports that indicate Hokoana tried to Facebook message Yiannopoulos, claiming his red hat was stolen and he wanted a new one signed by the controversial speaker. He was seen loudly asking people where his hat was.

One witness claimed a man in a yellow hat asked him and his friends to stand in front of him so he could mace a person or a crowd, according to UWPD reports. He refused, but he told detectives he was a woman stand in front of the man while he deployed the pepper spray. The witness claimed the person who was shot initially reacted to the man using the mace and the pair got into a scuffle, documents say.

Examination of several video clips of the shooting reportedly show Marc Hokoana holding a scarf in one hand and a possible pepper spray gun in the other, while Elizabeth Hokoana could be seen walking toward Dukes, reaching out toward him with her left hand and staring directly at him as he fell to the ground. Police say Elizabeth Hokoana watched Dukes briefly as the crowd dispersed, and then walked away.

Marc Hokoana was facing away from Dukes at the time the shots were fired, detectives say.

On multiple occasions, video depicts Elizabeth Hokoana moving her hand toward the small of her back, where a holster such as the one recovered from her car would be worn, documents indicate. This same motion is repeated before her arm was extended toward Dukes, detectives say.

One recording appears to show March Hokoana telling Elizabeth Hokoana to "calm down" and "don't shoot anyone." He can later be heard telling his wife and others in the crowd, "They have to start this. They have to start it," court records state.

Other witnesses said that Marc Hokoana appeared to be deliberately provoking protesters, calling them "snowflakes" and "libtards" and even exchanging punches with them, incident reports say. Video footage appears to show Marc Hokoana getting into a physical fight with someone in a scuffle separate from the shooting.

Neither person is in custody. Both defendants have concealed carry permits.