Auburn man gets 31½ years in prison for the 2011 murder of his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend

Michael Ray Fiorini, 29, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement for killing Christopher D. Johnson, 27 on Feb. 24, 2011

An Auburn man will spend 31½ years in prison for the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend in her Federal Way apartment in February of 2011.

Michael Ray Fiorini, 29, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement for killing Christopher D. Johnson, 27 on Feb. 24, 2011. The sentence range was 25 to 31½ years in prison, and the judge followed the prosecutor’s recommendation in imposing sentence.

The woman and Fiorini lived together for some time after high school but had broken up in 2004 after a domestic violence incident. The two, however, had remained in periodic contact.

At about 3:15 that morning, Fiorini broke the sliding glass door to his ex’s apartment at the Habitat Condominiums at 33005 18th Place S. He entered, confronted the woman as she lay on her couch, pointed a gun at her and told her to “shut up.”

Johnson, who had been sleeping in the bedroom, heard his girlfriend scream. He came out and approached the woman and Fiorini. Fiorini shot him once in the chest.

Police later found Johnson on the floor of the bedroom. Unable to revive him, medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.

A K-9 unit tracked Fiorini east from the apartment for about one-tenth of a mile before nosing him out of bushes where he had been hiding. Fiorini was armed at the time with a 9-mm pistol, and police found a spent cartridge case in the chamber of the gun.

Fiorini’s father later told detectives that his son had been upset about his ex-girlfriend’s relationship with Johnson, and that on the night of the shooting his son allegedly said “something to the effect that he was going to ‘kill that son of a bitch.’ ‘”