5 injured in 3 separate Seattle shootings early Sunday morning
Seattle police report that five people were injured in three unrelated shootings overnight between Saturday and Sunday.
The first shooting took place in the 4300 block of University Way Northeast.
“We were just hanging out inside the bar and the next thing we hear is five gunshots going off and it’s like, pop, pop, pop,” said Ivan Avila.
When police arrived, they found four people had been shot. Police said the victims’ injuries were not life-threatening. Avila helped one of the victims and used his belt as a tourniquet.
“I wrapped it around his leg because he was bleeding so much, so I tried to help him out,” Avila said. “I didn’t know what to do, I’ve never been in this situation, but it looks like he’s safe, I’m hoping he makes it through.”
The shooting happened in the same area where a driver fleeing a Saturday incident hit and killed a pedestrian just a day before.
Police said they got a call at 1 a.m., and said witnesses reported that a man “outside of a well-known bar” got into a fight with another man and fired as many as five rounds. Police were unable to find the shooter.
The next shooting was responded to an hour and a half later, following a shots fired report a few blocks southeast of Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown-International District. Twenty-nine shell casings, two live rounds and bullet fragments were found by officers at the scene, while four vehicles and two buildings were hit by the gunfire. There were no reported injuries from the incident, nor were any suspects identified.
Tim Nolan was walking and found some of the casings.
“Just walking down the street and I was like, is this a bullet, gun, shell on the ground? And I guess it was,” Nolan said. “Wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, but lnot what I expected to find on a Sunday afternoon.”
The third shooting was within minutes of the second, near Smith Tower along Second Avenue. After initially failing to find victims or witnesses, police say that a man walked into Harborview Medical Center with a gunshot wound to his leg. He was then interviewed by officers, telling them that he was “shot by an unknown man” after trying to break up a fight.
No arrests have been made in any of the three incidents. Seattle Police ask anyone with information to call the department’s tip line at 206-233-5000.
