Two men, including a security guard, were shot and killed outside a Rainier Beach nightclub early Sunday, Seattle police said.
Officers found the security guard suffering from gunshot wounds around 3:30 a.m. in the 9200 block of Rainier Avenue South, Seattle police wrote.
While giving aid to the security guard, police found another male with a gunshot wound to the head. He died at the scene.
The security guard was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Police arrested a 25-year-old man for investigation of two counts of murder Sunday afternoon. He was booked into King County Jail and is the primary suspect for both killings, said Detective Eric Muñoz, a police spokesperson. The Seattle Times typically does not name suspects until they have been officially charged with a crime.
The shooting marks the latest burst of violence associated with after-hours clubs and lounges that stay open past 2 a.m., when bars close. Legislation pending at City Hall seeks to crack down on the businesses, which often operate as private clubs, charging a nominal fee, and exist in a regulatory gray zone.
The shooting happened outside the Capri Bar and Restaurant, a hookah lounge on Rainier Avenue.
On Sunday afternoon, scraps of police tape circled the locked building. At least one of its windows was broken, and shattered glass littered the parking lot interspersed with detritus from a night of revelry: abandoned vape cartridges, red Solo cups, crushed cans of Red Bull, a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor.
Last month, a man was shot in the chest at the same location, following a large fight in the bar’s outdoor patio area, police said. Police found nearly 100 shell casings after that shooting, KING 5 reported.
Capri Bar has no identifying signs, although it did just a few weeks ago, at the time of the last shooting.
In an Instagram post from late last year, the bar wrote that weapons of any kind are not permitted.
“Disruptive, rowdy behavior or any actions deemed a threat to the well-being of others will result in immediate intervention by our security team,” the bar wrote.
A person who answered the phone, at a number listed for the bar, hung up without answering questions Sunday.
In December, five people were shot around 4 a.m. at a hookah lounge in the Chinatown International District. That lounge also had no signage identifying it as any type of a business.
In August, a man was shot and killed inside an illegal, unlicensed night club in Sodo.
In 2023, three people were killed and six injured in a hookah lounge shooting on Rainier Avenue, about 5 miles north of Sunday’s shooting.
Police said the suspect in Sunday’s shooting fled the area before officers arrived. The circumstances leading up to the shooting are under investigation.
An employee at the neighboring Safeway on Rainier Avenue said the security guard who was killed worked at the bar.
Two years ago, five people were shot in the Safeway parking lot, which police and community members have said has long been a hot spot for crime.
Records show the Capri lounge has a state business license to operate as a restaurant through October.
Detectives are still investigating the shooting and ask those with information to contact the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000.