KING COUNTY, Wash. — A 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old boy are two of the accused suspects in Sunday’s deadly festival shooting at Seattle Center.
Seattle police say three people were killed and at least four injured at the Bite of Seattle food festival.
KIRO 7 has been digging into violent crime trends among teens in King County.
A new survey shows 51% of King County teens say they easily have access to a gun and could shoot it if they wanted to at any time.
County prosecutors and law enforcement say that is a major concern for them.
Casey McNerthney with the King County Prosecutor’s Office tells us the access kids have is unmatched compared to decades before.
“You don’t want to see kids with easy access to guns or ghost guns like this; kids don’t make the best choices,” McNerthney said.
He said even with that unprecedented access, teen gun crimes are the lowest they have been since 2019.
2026: 23 cases (so far)
2025: 59 cases
2024: 68 cases
2023: 63 cases
“You could see the numbers go in half again and prosecutors would still have work to do; even one is too many,” McNerthney said.
He is crediting the lower rates to law enforcement jobs getting filled, prosecutors keeping an eye on troubled teens, and the community reporting suspicious behavior.
“The numbers are down, but it’s not that everything is fine; no, there’s not a spike in gun violence, but there’s still a problem when a 15-year-old kid is accused of shooting up the Bite of Seattle,” McNerthney said.
City officials say they believe this shooting could be gang-related, like a lot of the teen cases they come across.
He tells us when gangs are involved, the potential for lifelong tragedy spikes. He says many of these violent crime cases stem from similar background issues.
“One of the biggest common denominators we see is kids who don’t get to school and have a ton of absences. The more absences you have, the more likely you are to have a case on our desks,” McNerthney said.
Prosecutors say this festival shooting is the first that the accused 15-year-old has come across their desk, so there was no prior missed intervention opportunity law enforcement officials could have done.
He said the city hopes at some point, with enough time and action, people will be able to be in public without fear again soon.