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Neighbors say Green Lake shooting suspect was a ‘nice person'

SEATTLE — A shooting at a Green Lake office building left a man critically injured and prompted a massive manhunt for a suspect.

On Friday afternoon, a man was shot in the chest at a Green Lake office building, and police found the suspect at a Burien home and arrested 46-year-old Carolyn “Zoom” Piksa.

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Alison Grande spoke with Piksa’s neighbors who watched as police handcuffed her.

“As far as I know, she was a nice person, maybe she snapped or something,” said a neighbor.

“For her to take a gun to work? I think it’s absurd. That scares me,” said Laurie Quinnett. “They told me to stop, put my hands up so I did, and they weren’t going to let anybody go by because I guess, they were looking for her.”

Piksa was identified as the shooter by her co-workers, and police knew who they were looking for and that she was armed.

Police said they tracked down Piksa with her cellphone.

A KIRO 7 news crew was pushed back by police after getting too close to where they were searching near Piksa’s Burien house.

Neighbors said Piksa’s house was burglarized a couple of months ago. After the incident, she was scared and started living somewhere else, but returned this week.

“I thought she was kind of strange the other day, not her friendly self,” a neighbor said.

Piksa worked for the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department for 23 years. She had keys to all of the community centers and the shooting created a panic citywide.

“I can’t believe she did this,” said Quinnett.

“She was always nice to me. I’m sorry whatever happened,” said the neighbor.

Piksa spent more than three hours with police before she was booked into the King County Jail.

A bail hearing is set for Saturday afternoon.