One man was arrested late Wednesday after firing several gunshots in Rainier Beach. Police also detained several people and seized a handgun and a vehicle following two separate reports of shots fired in the area.
The incident outside Rainier Beach High School was first reported around 11 pm by two Metro bus drivers, who called 911 after seeing a man firing a gun toward the school’s football field.
Officers flooded the area and quickly found the suspect walking near the school. The 23-year-old suspect, who was reportedly high on PCP, identified himself as a local gang member said that he was upset over the shooting of a friend and looking for the people who did it. Officers searched the man and found a 22 caliber Beretta handgun in his jacket and took him into custody. Police later booked him into the King County Jail for assault. No one was injured in the incident.
Police also investigated two other reports of gunshots earlier in the evening. Around 9pm, a witness called 911 and reported seeing a man fire a handgun on the street near Rainier Avenue S. and S. Cloverdale before jumping over a fence and running westbound. Officers called for a K9 team to help search for the suspect, and followed a trail to a wooded area near the scene. There, officers found a 28-year-old man, and took him into custody. Officers identified the man and interviewed him at the precinct, where they released him pending further investigation by detectives. One vehicle was apparently struck by a bullet in the incident, but officers did not locate any injured victims.
In a a third incident just before 10 PM, a witness approached an officer near Martin Luther King Jr. Way and S. Myrtle St. and reported hearing gunshots nearby.
The officer then spotted a white Pontiac, which police had been searching for earlier in the evening after one of the passengers had reportedly brandished a handgun on the street. Police stopped the white car, contacted the three people inside–A 20-year-old man, an 18 year old woman and a 17-year-old boy–and took them into custody. Officers searched the car and found a handgun stashed under the front passenger seat. Officers seized the gun and impounded the car pending a search warrant, They also turned the three people found in the Pontiac over to detectives, who interviewed them at police headquarters before releasing them pending further investigation.