A hug between two Costco employees allegedly triggered a burst of jealousy that ended with one young worker dead and another facing a murder charge.

Authorities say Tyler Sorensen, 22, became angry after seeing his coworker, 20-year-old Jonathon Langdon, hug a female employee outside a Costco in Issaquah, Washington. Investigators allege Sorensen then followed Langdon as he rode away on a motorcycle, drove at high speed and intentionally tried to frighten him with his car.

Moments later, Langdon was struck and thrown from the motorcycle.

He died at the scene.

Sorensen has been charged with second-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty.

A Normal Workday Ended in a Fatal Collision

The incident occurred July 31 in Issaquah, a city east of Seattle.

According to police and a probable cause affidavit, both Sorensen and Langdon worked at Costco.

Investigators allege that Sorensen saw Langdon hugging a female coworker in the Costco parking lot. Sorensen apparently believed the woman was his former girlfriend, and authorities say the sight of the hug immediately angered him.

According to the affidavit, Sorensen texted friends that his “blood is boiling.”

But investigators say the woman at the center of the dispute gave a very different account of their relationship.

She denied that she and Sorensen had ever dated and told authorities that she had previously warned him he was crossing boundaries with her.

What allegedly happened next transformed the workplace tension into a criminal case.

Police Say Sorensen Followed Langdon’s Motorcycle

After Langdon left the Costco parking lot on his motorcycle, authorities allege Sorensen followed him in his car.

The probable cause affidavit says Sorensen drove at high speed, changed lanes and eventually rammed his vehicle into Langdon.

The collision threw the 20-year-old rider from his motorcycle and into a signpost.

Langdon was pronounced dead at the scene.

The affidavit alleges that Sorensen did not stop immediately to help the injured man.

Instead, prosecutors say he continued driving and only stopped to check whether his own vehicle remained capable of making it home.

That detail became one of the most striking allegations contained in the case against him.

A disagreement that apparently began with seeing two coworkers embrace had, within a short period, ended in the death of a 20-year-old man.

Sorensen Allegedly Admitted Following Him

Police later spoke with Sorensen about what happened.

According to the affidavit, he acknowledged becoming jealous after witnessing Langdon hug the female employee.

Authorities say Sorensen also admitted following Langdon at high speed and striking the motorcycle.

But he allegedly told investigators that killing Langdon had not been his intention.

Sorensen said he had wanted to “spook” his coworker, according to the affidavit.

He also allegedly described his actions in blunt terms afterward.

“It was stupid,” he told investigators, according to court records.

The statement does not resolve the central legal question now facing the court: what Sorensen intended when he allegedly pursued Langdon and how that intent should be weighed under Washington law.

Prosecutors have charged him with second-degree murder.

Sorensen has entered a not-guilty plea.

The Woman Disputed Sorensen’s Version of Their Relationship

The alleged motive described by investigators centers on Sorensen’s feelings toward the female coworker.

Authorities say Sorensen referred to her as an ex-girlfriend when explaining why seeing her hug Langdon upset him.

But the woman reportedly rejected that characterization entirely.

According to the probable cause affidavit, she told investigators that she and Sorensen had never dated.

She also said she had previously told him that his behavior toward her was crossing boundaries.

That contradiction adds another layer to the prosecution’s account.

Investigators are not describing an argument between two men over an established romantic relationship. Instead, according to the woman herself, the relationship Sorensen allegedly believed existed had never been a dating relationship at all.

A 20-Year-Old Coworker Never Made It Home

At the center of the case is Langdon, whose life ended on the road after leaving work.

He was only 20.

According to investigators, he was riding his motorcycle away from the Costco when Sorensen began following him.

The prosecution alleges that Sorensen’s jealousy escalated from angry text messages into a dangerous pursuit, and then into a collision powerful enough to throw Langdon into a roadside signpost.

Emergency responders could not save him.

The affidavit further alleges that after the impact, Sorensen continued driving rather than remaining with Langdon.

Those allegations are now part of the evidence prosecutors will use as the criminal case moves forward.

The Case Now Moves to Court

Sorensen’s not-guilty plea means the accusations against him remain allegations that must be proven in court.

The probable cause affidavit presents the prosecution’s early account of the events: jealousy after a hug, angry messages, a high-speed pursuit and a deliberate attempt to frighten another driver that ended in a fatal impact.

Sorensen’s alleged statement that he only wanted to scare Langdon could become significant as the case develops.

So could the female coworker’s denial that she and Sorensen had ever been romantically involved.

For now, one fact is not disputed: Jonathon Langdon is dead.

He went to work at Costco on July 31 and later left the parking lot on his motorcycle.

He never made it home.

A few moments of anger allegedly followed him onto the road, where prosecutors say a coworker’s jealousy turned into a fatal collision.

Sorensen now faces a second-degree murder charge over that death.

And the remark investigators say he made afterward — that what happened was “stupid” — now sits alongside far more serious consequences: one young man has lost his life, and another is preparing to defend himself against a murder accusation in court.