At least one person was killed and nine wounded, including a 14-year-old girl, during a surge of gun violence in the Seattle area Friday night and early Saturday.
The Seattle Police Department reported four shootings during that time, including one fatality at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill, and Renton police say four were shot — two critically wounded — during an incident at Ron Regis Park, in the 1500 block of Orcas Avenue Southeast.
The violence began around 11:30 p.m., when Seattle officers responded to a shooting in the 4200 block of South Orcas Street in Hillman City. Officers found a 21-year-old woman and 27-year-old man with gunshot wounds in an alley. Both were taken to Harborview Medical Center and officers recovered shell casings at the scene.
At about the same time, according to the Renton Police Department, four people were shot at a party at Ron Regis Park. Two critically injured victims were taken to Harborview and two with serious injuries were taken by private vehicles to Valley Medical Center and an Auburn hospital.
At 12:18 a.m. Saturday, police in Sodo were called to the area near Occidental Avenue South and Edgar Martinez Drive South, where they found a 14-year-old girl who’d been shot in the leg during an eruption of gunfire at a nearby bar.
She was among people who ran when the shots rang out, according to police. The girl was taken to Harborview in critical condition.
Police say officers recovered more than 80 rifle and handgun rounds at the scene, as well as 12 firearms from private security guards working at the bar, and logged at least four vehicles damaged in the shooting. Shortly afterward, police say, a man in a car with gunshot damage arrived at Harborview, reporting a graze wound to his head.
At 12:33 a.m., around 15 minutes after the Sodo gunfire, 911 callers reported hearing shots at Cal Anderson Park. Police found a man with gunshot wounds on the sidewalk. Police say several people at the scene performed first aid, including police officers and Seattle Fire Department medics, but the man died there. Homicide detectives interviewed witnesses and are continuing to investigate.
Seattle police responded to another shooting in the Pioneer Square neighborhood at 3:17 a.m., finding a man with two gunshot wounds at Third Avenue South and South Main Street. Officers and fire department medics provided first aid and transported the man to Harborview in critical condition. Police collected ballistic evidence nearby but found no witnesses.
Seattle police ask anyone with information about the four Seattle shootings to call the violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000. People with information about the Renton shooting should call 425-430-7500.
According to the Seattle Police Department crime dashboard, Seattle has seen 27 homicides so far in 2022. Seattle police reported 42 homicides in all of 2021, 53 in 2020 and 36 in 2019. The most recent King County Firearm Violence Report documented 424 shots-fired incidents for the second quarter (April-June) of 2022, up 18% from the previous five quarters of data, though the total number of victims (99) was down 14%.
By Saturday afternoon, five gunshot victims remained at Harborview in critical condition.
“We have seen an increase in gunshot wounds this past year,” said Harborview spokesperson Susan Gregg. “It is trauma season, so this is what we see, but there has been a definite increase.”