Teenager killed, another teen hurt in shooting near Seattle’s CHOP zone

SEATTLE — Police are investigating after a 16-year-old was killed and a 14-year-old was critically hurt in an early morning shooting Monday near Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone -- also known as CHOP.

Around 3 a.m., Seattle Police Department’s 911 center received multiple calls of shots fired near 12th Avenue and East Pike Street where barricades are still up, which the city tried to take down all weekend.

>>Seattle protest zone remains largely intact

Police said callers reported seeing a white Jeep Cherokee SUV at or near one of the barriers just before the shooting. Callers also reported that several people fired shots into the Jeep. Police said two people believed to be the occupants of the Jeep were shot.

Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said both victims arrived at the hospital in critical condition.

People helped transport one victim to the hospital in a personal vehicle. Others helped get the other victim to a point outside CHOP to meet Seattle Fire’s Medic 1, which then brought him to Harborview.

“I just had to just keep telling people - get him in the vehicle,” said Raz Simone, who drove another Good Samaritan’s car to the hospital with the victim inside.

The 16-year-old was later pronounced dead. The second victim, a 14-year-old boy, remains in the hospital with gunshot wounds.

Detectives searched the Jeep for evidence, but said it was clear the crime scene had been disturbed.

“You heard a lot of gunshots near the Cal Anderson Park. A lot of us ran down there, a lot of people were running back. It was almost literally right outside in front of the East Precinct,” said witness Giovanni Medina. Medina helped tie a tourniquet around the victims arm.

“We’ve had two men killed. And we’ve had a child that’s injured from gunfire. So this is a real problem. And I would question why we would continue to allow this to happen,” said Chief Carmen Best at a press conference at the scene. Best made the comment before police released that the victim killed is also a teen.

She gave no indication of how police planned to return the East Precinct, or when that would happen.

Last week, three people were shot within 48 hours, including 19-year-old Lorenzo Anderson, who died the morning of June 21.

DeJuan Young, 33, was hurt in a separate shooting that same morning.

So far, police have not made any arrests in the shootings.

Anyone with information about Monday’s shooting is asked to call the Seattle Police Department’s violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.

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