Police: Fife man murdered in shootout with robbers who followed him home

FIFE, Wash. — Police said a Fife man was followed home, robbed, then murdered in a shootout with two suspects Wednesday evening near 62nd Avenue E and 39th Street who were later detained at an Auburn hospital.

Investigators said officers were called to the neighborhood just after 6 p.m. for reports of gunfire and found a Good Samaritan performing CPR on the gunshot victim outside his home, before officers took over. The victim later died in the street.

Police Chief Pete Fisher said officers learned early on in the investigation about two people who showed up to a hospital in Auburn immediately after the robbery, one of them injured from the shooting.

As of Wednesday night, police said one of the suspects had been arrested on suspicion of murder while the other was in custody waiting to be interviewed by detectives.

“This really was the result of a robbery,” said Fisher. “Robbed, then they exchanged gunfire and in that, our victim as shot and killed the scene, and at least one of the suspects was hit as well and is being treated at a hospital.”

Investigators said initial reports indicated a 5-year-old victim may have been involved but officers said they determined that was not the case and no inured child was found.

Police have not said what the victim was robbed of or where he was followed home from. The identities of the victim and suspects have not yet been released by officials.

“Nobody in this neighborhood has seen anything like this before,” said neighbor Raven Dean, who told KIRO 7 she heard roughly eight gunshots and saw the victim’s body lying in the road. “There was a few kids out with their parents, you know riding bikes and stuff at this time, so it’s just lucky there wasn’t a stray bullet that hit somebody.”

Cox Media Group