“It was early evening of Aug. 31, 2012, when Yancy Noll left work and headed home.
“He had no way of knowing he was going to be dead in 10 minutes.”
King County prosecutors Adrienne McCoy and Kristin Richardson say the murder of Yancy Noll -- shot to death in his car while stopped at a red light -- put the city of Seattle on edge.
“This case is about the presence of evil in our world,” said McCoy.
“It was like a bomb had dropped,” said Richardson.
“None of us is safe,” McCoy said. “Any of us could have been Yancy Noll.”
“The police went all out. They took it very seriously,” said Richardson.
Alison Grande is a reporter for KIRO-7, a CBS News affiliate.
“This was a very big story,” she told Van Sant. “We have shootings in Seattle.
We don’t necessarily have many shootings in that area of Seattle. That time of day. And that type of victim.”
“What were you hearing? Did Yancy Noll have any enemies?” Van Sant asked Grande.
“From talking to his friends, Yancy didn’t have any enemies.”
He was an outdoorsy guy who enjoyed fine wine. Loved what he did, working as a wine steward at QFC,” she replied.
Bottom line: Yancy Noll, 42, was a good-natured, happy-go-lucky guy and friends say the idea that he exploded into a road rage battle is ridiculous.
“He drove like a grandma. He was very, very careful,” Brad Kenny, a longtime friend, said. “He had a Subaru wagon, not known for its speed.
Asked if Noll was angry, impulsive or reckless,” Kenny said “no.”
“[Was he] verbally abusive?” Van Sant asked.
“God, no. Not even close,” Kenny replied. “He was so careful and mindful with how he interacted with people.”
Investigators suspect Noll and his killer crossed paths around 7 p.m. on Interstate 5 just north of Seattle.
“It’s possible that there was some sort of confrontation and Yancy pulled up to the intersection thinking nothing of it,” said Kenny.
“You think he ever knew what hit him?” Van Sant asked.
“Never,” Kenny replied. “He was killed instantly, thank God. He had no idea what happened.”
The details of this shooting were curious, to say the least.
Five shots were fired with remarkable accuracy and the shooter killed Yancy Noll just a few feet from other motorists.
“I hear five rapid shots, kinda like a ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’” said Kevin Watts.
Watts and his friend Angjelo Rama were driving together when they heard those five pops behind them. The next thing they saw was a car speeding away into oncoming traffic.
“... they drove by. And I was like, that’s kinda weird that someone wouldn’t wait for a red light,” Watts told Van Sant.
Upset that the driver had run the red light, the two friends hit the gas and gave chase.
“We couldn’t catch up to him,” said Watts.
“How fast did that vehicle peel outta here?” Van Sant asked.
“Zero to 60 in, like ... two, three, seconds. He was gone,” said Watts.
Rama and Watts gave up the chase and returned to the scene where a Subaru was still at the curb with its motor running.
The friends had a sinking feeling that those “pops” they’d heard likely were gunshots.
“I saw a lot of blood,” Watts said. “I saw where the bullets holes were, and I realized that there was just -- there was absolutely nothing I could do.”
The shooter’s bullets had hit Noll four times in the head. A fifth bullet missed its intended target, but very nearly claimed a second victim.
“It sounded like a huge explosion,” said Patricia Schulmeister.
Schulmeister, now 92, got up to see what was happening and nearly tripped over a bullet inside her home. She told “48 Hours” how it got there.
“The bullet came through our fence ... came through the pane of glass. It hit the big lampshade that was on top of that big lamp. Through this hallway.
And before it landed , it hit this picture of my precious kitty cat, Miss BP, and then it dropped to the floor,” she explained.
Shulmeister took the bullet and headed outside where she spotted a crime scene investigator.
“I tapped him on the shoulder and held out my hand and gave him the bullet,” she said.
The bullet was a 9mm fired from a Glock pistol. It was a solid piece of evidence in a case that, at that point, didn’t have much.
“We didn’t know if it was a targeted shooting or if was a random shooting or -- or anything about what it was,” said Detective Frank Clark of the Seattle Police Department.
The case was about to consume detectives Frank Clark and Dana Duffy for the next two years.
“Yancy had no criminal history, no history of being a hothead,” Det. Duffy said. “We really didn’t have a lot to go on.”
After closely inspecting the crime scene, the detectives realized Noll’s window was down and the shooter had fired those five shots right through his own passenger side window.
“That’s so strange to me. The shooter would shoot through the passenger’s side window
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