Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and Seattle Police Department leaders said during two Monday press conferences that yesterday’s deadly shooting at Seattle Center was the result of three people shooting at each other and hitting bystanders.
Wilson said at an 11 am press conference that a 15-year-old is being held at King County’s youth jail for a firearm offense and first-degree assault, and will make a first appearance in court today at 1:30 pm.
At a second press conference Monday at 4 pm, Mayor Wilson echoed prior court filings that said one of the deceased, a 19-year-old man, was one of the shooters.
Police Chief Shon Barnes said at the earlier press conference that police were still searching for another shooter, but the department has not yet identified who that person is. Barnes said a SWAT team searched the Seattle Center yesterday searching for another shooter, but found no one.
Barnes said witnesses should report what they saw to SPD’s tipline, and Mayor Wilson said investigators are checking footage from Seattle Center security cameras.
As for a motive, SPD’s Assistant Chief of Investigations Nicole Powell said Tuesday afternoon that the department believes the violence could be gang related, and that the 15-year-old in custody and deceased 19-year-old were associates.
Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins says two men, aged 19 and 44, died on the scene, and a 56-year-old woman died of her injuries at Harborview Medical Center. The King County Medical Examiner identified the victims Tuesday afternoon as Junior Cee Niko Semo, 19, Carlos Israel Sanchez Villalba, 44, and Ashley Whitehead, 56.
Two women, aged 40 and 39, and a 23-year-old man transported to Harborview on Sunday have since been discharged. A two-year-old boy remains at the hospital in “satisfactory” condition.
A 27-year-old man also showed up to UW Medical Center’s Montlake campus last night with a gunshot wound and was later discharged. SPD is still investigating whether his injuries were related to the Seattle Center shooting.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information from a second press conference this afternoon.
