Renton police shot domestic violence suspect, victim says he was unarmed

RENTON, Wash. — A Renton neighborhood was rattled by a police-involved shooting early this morning. That quiet was shattered about 5 o’clock.

KIRO 7 spoke to the victim in what Renton police say was a domestic violence (DV) incident in which she was taken hostage.

She insists the man who was shot was unarmed.

This happened on South 196th Place. We do not know the suspect’s condition. But he took off before police caught up with him about a five-minute drive away.

This female victim spoke but didn’t want her picture taken. She and a friend said it was too soon for her to talk on camera.

She says the man is the father of one of her children. And she disputes that she was held hostage. Looking at the ground, this does appear to be his escape route after the shooting, a shooting involving Renton police.

Drone 7 shows us the unusual sight in this Renton cul-de-sac, a police investigation into a shooting in the midst of what is described as a domestic disturbance involving hostage-taking.

Neighbor Jason Liu said he didn’t wake up. “No,” he said, “I’m a good sleeper.”

Like most of his neighbors, Liu said he and his family were asleep.  He says he didn’t hear gunshots.  “No,” he said. He didn’t even know the police were in his neighborhood.  “I didn’t know,” he said.

It was five o’clock this Sunday morning.

His neighbor didn’t hear it either.  “No we did not,” she said. “And not until we saw the police vehicles down the street, that we realized something had happened.”

This neighbor didn’t want to show her face.

She says her husband asked one of the officers what was going on.

“And that’s what the police reported to us,” she said, “that it was something involving a police officer and a civilian.”

The victim said off camera that the father of one of her children had dragged her into the garage. But at some point, he let her go and got into a vehicle outside.

In her account, she says the Renton officers came through the garage and ordered him to put up his hands.  He got out of the car, and, she says, the officers opened fire, five times.

He then jumped into another vehicle and sped away.  He was later stopped a mile and a half away on East Valley Highway, just north of South 180th Street.

All of it, disturbing the peace of this quiet neighborhood.

“We want it to be a safe community for our kids,” said the neighbor who didn’t want to be identified. “This has riled us a bit this morning.”

The female victim says the man was shot in the chest, stomach, and leg. He is in the Intensive Care Unit at Harborview Medical Center.

She insists he was unarmed, something she says she shouted to the officers as they were opening fire.

We have not been able to confirm any of this with the Valley Independent Investigative Team.  They’re looking into this shooting.  They have not responded to my repeated requests for information.

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