SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a dramatic sequence of events that started with gunshots in one Seattle neighborhood and lead to a chase and crash in another that ended when police took four people into custody.
Seattle police said no one was injured by the gunfire, but the shots were fired near 27th Avenue and East Union Street in the Central District at about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday. The shooting lead to a pursuit and crash on Renton Avenue South and Cloverdale Street.
KIRO 7 was on scene at the crash shortly after it happened and met a man who said he was the driver of a pickup truck that was slammed by a car. Hung Chung said he had left work, and was driving on Renton Avenue when police vehicles and the possible suspect vehicle were coming up from behind.
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Despite the crash, he was able to walk away and spoke to KIRO 7 on the sidewalk near the crash scene. Chung says he tried to get out of the way when he saw the police.
His friend, Kerry McVey, came to the crash scene and embraced him once she saw that he was OK. She also spoke to KIRO 7.
“What did I think? I was like, 'what happened to my friend?'...I just saw it on Channel 7 (KIRO).”
Kerry McVey says she had watched KIRO 7 and raced over to see her friend and coworker. After she realized Chung was barely injured, she tried to piece together what happened with the crash.
“That was the crazy people's car? ...thank you for stopping them. They didn't get to my house.”
Both were relieved Chung could walk away. The two friends know each other through construction work, and Chung said he tried to avoid the police chase but was not able to,
“. . . the police sirens went off then I got pulled over on the right hand and let the police go . . . As soon as I pull over this car hit me real hard.”
Seattle police say the events that lead to the crash started earlier Tuesday with a report of shots fired near 27th Ave and East Union Street around 2:15 PM.
Police said the shots may have come from a moving car, described as brown KIA, which matches the car that hit Chung.
At about 3:15 p.m., police said officers spotted the vehicle driving on Rainier Ave South near South Charlestown. Officers tried to stop it, but the car got away leading to the chase and crash outside Andy Almanzor's door.
Almanzor was forced to sweep up the debris after the cars were cleared out from in front of his Renton Avenue home.
“I just hear the sound of the collision, it's like a disturbing sound so I come out....it's disturbing.”
Authorities said the suspects fled on foot. Police fanned out across the area near Renton Avenue South and Cloverdale Street. Three males and a female were caught and a gun was recovered from the suspect vehicle.
McVey was just glad her friend is safe.
“As long as he's OK and they got most of (the suspects).”
The King County Sheriff's Office helped find one suspect behind a house on Renton Avenue and another in a shed off of 42nd Avenue.
Two others were caught by patrol officers on the ground. It's not clear yet who or what precisely was targeted in the shooting in the Central District.
Cox Media Group
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