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Gun Fire, A Dented Safe and A Lot of Questions

After being called to a Rainier Beach street twice this morning to investigate volleys of gunfire, Seattle police arrested a 16-year-old for gun possession and are now investigating a possible link between the shootings, a burglary in Renton and a damaged, dented gun safe found dumped in South Seattle earlier this week.

The convoluted case began around 6 AM this morning when police received a flurry of phone calls about gunshots near the 6000 block of 32nd Avenue S. Officers arrived and found shell casings at the scene, but weren’t able to find the gunman.

Several hours later, at 9:45, police received another round of reports of gunshots, this time in the 5900 block of 32nd Ave S. Officers found several bullets lodged in the walls of a home—one above the home’s garage, the other inside a bathroom. No one was injured in either shooting.

While detectives were at the home investigating the case, a white Lincoln Navigator—which police believe was used to steal a gun safe and several weapons from a home in Renton earlier this week—pulled up on 32nd Avenue.

Detectives approached the vehicle, contacted the three adult males and a juvenile male inside, and saw a gun wedged in between his seat and the floor.

After identifying everyone in the vehicle, officers released the three adults and arrested the juvenile, who was booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of unlawful possession of a firearm. Police also impounded the Lincoln in order to perform a more thorough search and contacted the gang unit about the case.

Police are now investigating whether the men in the Lincoln are connected to this morning’s shootings or other incidents of gunfire in the neighborhood, and are also working to determine whether they are the same men who dragged a gun safe out of a Renton home on the 16th and loaded it into a Lincoln Navigator.

Seattle police believe they have since recovered the safe, which was found battered—but unopened, likely with guns inside—in the 9700 block of 37th Avenue S at about 6 AM Wednesday morning.

We’ll have updates on this case as detectives sort this whole thing out.