‘You took our Tyler’: 18-year-old sentenced to 32 years in prison for killing teen boy, wounding two others in Spokane

Tyler Rowell was a few months away from graduating from Spokane Valley High School with goals of going to college when his life was cut short by a 16-year-old with a handgun.

Leland Westerland shot and killed the 17-year-old Rowell and wounded Rowell’s two friends in what police described as a “drug deal gone wrong” last year near Liberty Park in East Central Spokane.

After tearful impact statements from the victims’ loved ones and an apology from Westerland Friday, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Julie McKay sentenced Westerland, now 18, to 32 years in prison.

“The actions that Mr. Westerland took on that evening took a child from a family, and I cannot replace that,” McKay said.

Officers responded to the shooting the night of Feb. 8, 2023, in the area of 1725 E. Seventh Ave., according to court documents. There, they found Rowell dead and two males, Ethan Bloom and Zhander Ohmann, wounded.

Police later arrested Westerland; Hagen F. Charbonneau, 19; Gavin M. McGregor, 22; and Sapphire B. Jespersen, 21.

Westerland pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder and two counts of assault.

Charbonneau, McGregor and Jespersen are awaiting trial in November on murder, assault and robbery charges.

Bloom, whose femur was shattered, reportedly told an officer at the hospital he drove Rowell and Ohmann in his light blue Honda Odyssey minivan to Seventh Avenue to sell about $600 in cannabis oil.

The trio got out of the minivan, and three people wearing dark-colored ski masks approached and opened fire, striking him, Rowell and Ohmann, Bloom said in documents. The defendants then took the keys to his Honda Odyssey and drove away in it. Westerland was identified as the lone shooter.

Charbonneau told a police detective McGregor needed money to pay a bail bondsman. So, he said, Jespersen’s Snapchat account was used to set up the victims for a robbery under the pretense of buying drugs.

At Friday’s sentencing, Westerland, wearing a gray dress shirt and dress pants, stood and apologized to the victims’ loved ones.

He said he feels pain, regret and sorrow in his heart for what he did.

“I’m not the same 16-year-old who did this,” said Westerland, fighting back tears in his statement.

Tammy Rowell, Tyler Rowell’s grandmother, brought a large photo of her grandson’s high school senior picture to show the court. A photo of the teen cooking in the kitchen and another of his loved ones showing off the rose tattoos on their hands in honor of Tyler Rowell were taped to the large senior photo.

Tyler Rowell had received the tattoo on his hand in honor of his mother, who died when he was young.

Tammy Rowell said she and her husband raised Tyler Rowell after his mother’s death.

By junior high school, Tyler Rowell dove into reading and researching issues that interested him and started selling stock on the stock market at 16 years old, the grandmother said.

She said Tyler Rowell battled through a dark period of depression and a rebellious stage during high school, but turned his life around.

He loved his girlfriend and his job, and he spent time with a tight circle of friends. He was also determined to attend college.

“He was happy,” Tammy Rowell said. “I can’t tell you how happy that made me.”

She said Tyler Rowell was honest with her and told her about the “sketchy” meeting he was going to have the night he died. She said he told her he wasn’t sure whether he was going to go.

Holly Komberec, who called Tyler Rowell her brother, said Westerland took away Tyler Rowell’s chance to make something of himself.

“Your split-second, small-minded action has caused a lifetime of pain,” she told Westerland, who looked forward or hung his head while impact statements were read.

Mariah Smith, a family member of Tyler Rowell’s, said she and her brother would talk for hours about his issues of feeling lost in the world. Just as Tammy Rowell mentioned, she said Tyler Rowell pulled out of a depressing period in his life the year before he was killed.

“He was looking forward to what life had to offer, and you stole that from him,” Smith said.

She said she hoped the night Westerland shot him in the chest and head haunts him for the rest of his life.

“Tyler was a light in everyone’s life, and you stole that light from us,” Smith said.

Another family member, Angela Rowell, said Tyler Rowell spent the hours before he was killed watching television, talking and laughing with family.

“You hurt so many people over selfishness,” she said. “You took a life. You took our Tyler.”

A victim advocate read a statement on behalf of Bloom, one of the three people who were shot that night.

Bloom wrote that Tyler Rowell was like a brother to him and one of the most sincere and honest people anyone could meet. He wrote that his friend was extremely optimistic and had so many plans for his future.

“It was too quick and far too soon,” Bloom wrote of his friend’s death.

The shooting left victims and their families with sleepless nights, and some had to temporarily leave their jobs to cope, Bloom said.

Bloom said he spent several days in the hospital and the last four months of his senior year in high school recovering.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Andrea Duggan asked McKay to impose a 37-year prison sentence, while Westerland’s attorney, Victoria Blumhorst, asked for a 22-year sentence.

Duggan called Westerland the “primary aggressor” who shot multiple people, and instead of rendering aid, stole from the victims after the shooting. She said the trauma Bloom and Ohmann experienced watching their friend being shot and being shot themselves requires a high level of accountability as well.

While juveniles make poor decisions, “there has to be serious consequences when lives are taken and injuries are made,” Duggan said.

Blumhorst said Westerland did not plan the robbery, nor did he plan to shoot anyone. He was only supposed to scare the victims with a firearm, but Westerland believed Tyler Rowell was reaching into his waistband to pull out a gun.

She said Westerland’s rough childhood, including neglect and abuse, family violence and an incarcerated father, contributed to Westerland’s criminal behavior. She said Westerland grew up in an environment in which violence was encouraged to deal with conflict.

No family members spoke on Westerland’s behalf Friday. Blumhorst said Westerland asked his father not to attend the hearing.

She encouraged McKay to focus the sentence on rehabilitation rather than retribution.

McKay determined Westerland’s youth played a factor in the killing and sentenced him to 32 years.

Blumhorst and Westerland hugged before he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.