Bike patrol officers recovered a stolen handgun and arrested two teens after coming across a group of young men smoking marijuana in an alleyway during school hours Thursday afternoon.
Around 1:45 PM, bike officers were riding through the alley in the 4500 block of S. Henderson Street when they noticed the scent of recently-smoked marijuana in the air and spotted a group of five teenagers—who appeared to be around 14 or 15 years old—huddled behind some bushes.
When officers approached the teens, they noticed several of the increasingly-nervous boys also had very bloodshot eyes.
Given that all of the young men were clearly under 21 years old—making them ineligible to legally possess marijuana—officers asked the teens which of them was carrying weed. The group pointed to a marijuana-filled cigar tossed in some nearby bushes. Another teen boy also pulled a small bag of marijuana out of his pocket, which he handed over to officers.
Officers recognized one 15-year-old boy in the group was wanted on a robbery warrant and handcuffed him. Suddenly, a 14-year-old boy took off running, dropping a handgun—loaded with hollow point bullets—as he fled.
Officers chased down the 14-year-old and booked him and the 15-year-old—who already have felonies on their records—into the Youth Service Center for being felons in possession of a firearm, which police learned had been stolen in Renton.
Officers also contacted the families of the other three boys and released them to their parents.