‘I was somebody’s target practice’: WSP looking for suspects after drive-by shooting on SR 509

KING COUNTY, Wash. — Washington State Patrol detectives are investigating a drive-by shooting on state Route 509 that appears to have been unprovoked.

KIRO 7 spoke to the victim, who wanted to withhold his name due to safety concerns.

“Everyone’s a target, and I don’t want to be that target,” the victim’s mother said.

The shooting took place near Burien on Tuesday shortly after 10 p.m. The victim, his mother, and a WSP trooper all said nothing led up to the shooting.

The victim said he was on his way to the store when he drove onto the 112th Street on-ramp onto state Route 509. He was driving northbound for “about a minute or two” when he “saw a car driving really fast on the rearview mirror.”

“Out of nowhere, I just started getting shot,” he said. “I heard the first two shots on my trunk, then I started to duck, and then they started to speed up beside me. They shot another three times. I felt the force of the last bullet inside the driver door. I ducked down and kept control of the car.”

The victim said he pulled over to the shoulder, then watched the car drive away. His car and the suspect vehicle were the only two automobiles on the highway, but the victim said it was impossible to tell what kind of car it was.

“I was the only car on the freeway, and I was somebody’s target practice,” he said. “If I had a passenger in the back seat, they would’ve died. Or been shot in the stomach because it hit the seat. Someone would’ve lost their leg. I got lucky it didn’t go through.”

The victim’s car had at least six bullet holes, according to WSP. At least one of the shots hit the driver’s side door but did not go through.

“It probably would’ve hit his heart if it went through,” the victim’s mother said. “I’m at a loss for words now that I happened to my own family.”

This is the 37th shooting on a King County freeway this year where a victim reported injury or property damage, according to WSP.

“If anyone has information, please contact WSP,” Trooper Rick Johnson tweeted Wednesday.

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