Three people were killed and one person suffered injuries after shots rang out at a party in a Seattle suburb early Saturday, Mukilteo city officials said.
Authorities had a 19-year-old male suspect in custody about two hours after the shooting, although he was not immediately identified. Based on witness descriptions, police spokesman Officer Myron Travis said the suspect appeared to be the lone gunman.
He was apprehended by authorities while traveling south on Interstate 5 in Lewis County, about 100 miles south of the city. Local authorities stopped the vehicle he was driving, which matched the one described by witnesses, after Mukilteo police shared suspect descriptions with local agencies, Travis said at a news conference Saturday morning.
The shooting took place just after midnight at a gathering of between 15 and 20 young people in the Chennault neighborhood. The injured person was taken to Harborview Medical Center.
His condition was not immediately known, but Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said early Saturday that initial reports were "hopeful."
Police did not identify the three slain victims, although Travis said authorities had already started the process of notifying their families Saturday.
"Tonight, our community has been shaken to its core," Gregerson said early Saturday. "There are many unanswered questions about what happened tonight, but we need to give our investigators time and space to be deliberate and thorough."
"We grieve with the families who have lost those in this horrible event," Gregerson added later Saturday morning.
Authorities are working to identify a motive in the case.
"We're gathering all our evidence to determine how it happened, why it occurred," Travis said. "Anytime you have such a massive crime scene (and) significant witnesses … there's a lot of evidence to examine."
Authorities from multiple agencies were on the scene Saturday morning, including the Mukilteo Police Department's Major Crimes Unit, the Washington State Patrol and the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.
A woman told the Associated Press Saturday her granddaughter hid in a closet to escape the gunman.
Susan Gemmer says 18-year-old Alexis Gemmer was hanging out with friends from Kamiak High School at a home in Mukilteo early Saturday when a young man showed up with a rifle. Susan Gemmer tells The Associated Press that according to her granddaughter, the gunman shot two people at a fire pit before going onto a roof and firing more shots from there.
Gemmer says the young man who lived at the home tried to lead her granddaughter to safety by running out a garage door, but as he exited the garage, the gunman shot at him. He made it across the street to safety, but Alexis Gemmer ran back inside and hid in a closet, from where she called and texted her grandmother.
Gemmer says the shooter and one of the victims had recently broken up.
About the Author
