Samson H. Berhe was in a three-year relationship before trying to kill his girlfriend

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A man who allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend in SeaTac before running into the woods and shooting himself was charged with first-degree attempted murder and felony domestic-violence harassment on Friday.

Investigators say the 25-year-old victim had been in a three-year relationship with Samson H. Berhe, 26, of Lynnwood, that ended last month after Berhe told the victim her daughter “looked at him funny” and was evil, according to charging documents.

The victim told police she was driving from work to her daughter’s day care on Thursday when she noticed she was being followed by a dark SUV she did not recognize.

When the car pulled up alongside her near South 133rd Street and 24th Avenue South, the victim saw Berhe in the driver’s seat of a rental car and heard him say through the open windows that he was going to kill her, prosecutors allege in documents filed in King County Superior Court.

While both were driving, Berhe shot at the victim several times but missed, prosecutors say. When the victim abandoned her car, a Toyota Camry, in an attempt to flee on foot, Berhe followed suit, according to court documents.

Berhe got out of the rental car to chase after the victim — firing at her multiple times but striking her once; the rental car rolled away and crashed into a nearby fence, prosecutors say.

The victim found refuge inside a nearby house after she banged on the door, and was alert and conscious when police arrived, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Prosecutors say that once the victim was inside the house, Berhe got into the victim’s car and drove to the Union Gospel Mission on South 128th Street in Tukwila where he was seen heading into the woods with a gun.

Several deputies who were working to surround the perimeter reported seeing Berhe shoot himself in the chest and prosecutors say there is evidence he may have shot himself in the chest twice.

According to King County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Cindi West, the victim was taken to Harborview Medical Center and is expected to survive.

Berhe was in the intensive care unit of Harborview Medical Center in serious condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

(Prosecutors say the Berhe charged in Thursday’s shooting is not the same Samson Berhe who was sentenced to a state mental-health hospital indefinitely after killing high-school tennis coach Mike Robb in West Seattle in 2005.)

Christine Clarridge can be reached at 206-464-8983 or [email protected]

By Christine Clarridge

Seattle Times staff reporter