A man who had been shooting into a crowded nightclub parking lot was shot by detectives early this morning. On November 25th at approximately 1:57 a.m. Gang Unit detectives were on scene monitoring a crowd letting out of the Citrus nightclub in the 1000 block of Fairview Avenue North. Club security had called 911 earlier to warn police that there might be trouble with the crowd at closing time.
Gang Unit detectives on patrol deployed across the street from the club to monitor the crowd as they exited the club and left the area. It was from this vantage point that the detectives saw a 22-year-old male suspect open fire into the crowded parking lot of the club. The suspect then ran across Fairview Avenue North, gun in hand, at which point he was confronted by three detectives. When the suspect pointed the gun at the detectives, two detectives opened fire, striking the suspect. The suspect was then taken into custody. Detectives recovered his gun and placed it into evidence. Medics were called to the scene and subsequently transported the suspect to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, where he remains under guard. The suspect will be booked into the King County Jail upon his release from the hospital.
Preliminary investigation indicates that there may have been more than one person shooting in the nightclub parking lot. The unknown subjects remain at large.
A 26-year-old man who claims to have been struck by gunfire originating from the nightclub parking lot fled the scene. A couple blocks away from the club he saw an officer responding to the shooting and flagged him down. The officer called medics to the scene and the man was subsequently transported to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
No officers were injured during the incident. The involved officers will be placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings. A Firearms Review Board will be convened in the coming weeks to determine if the shooting was within Department policy.
Homicide and CSI detectives responded to process the scene and will be responsible for the on-going investigation.