A bank security guard and a second man were both seriously injured by gunfire Thursday morning after the two men fought over the guard’s gun outside a Central District bank.
Police received 911 calls about gunfire outside a bank at 23rd Avenue and Jackson Street just after 11 AM, followed by reports that two people had been shot.
Officers arrived and found a 46-year-old security guard and a man in his 30’s, both with gunshot wounds, in a breezeway outside the bank.
As medics transported both men to Harborview, police began to piece together details of the incident, which began following a confrontation between the guard and the suspect outside the bank.
Police believe the suspect and the guard were in a fight outside the bank when the suspect grabbed the guard’s gun.
The suspect fired several rounds, seriously injuring the guard, before turning the gun on himself, firing once. It also appears the suspect sustained a gunshot wound to the shoulder during the incident, possibly during his struggle with the guard.
Members of the SPD/FBI Safe Streets Task Force responded to the scene along with patrol officers, but the case is currently being investigated by detectives from SPD’s Homicide/Assault unit.