3 killed, 3 injured in shooting outside Des Moines sports bar

Three people were killed and three more were injured early Sunday in a shooting outside a Des Moines sports bar, police said.

The search for the suspects is still underway.

Des Moines officers responded around 2 a.m. to La Familia Sports Pub and Lounge in the 22800 block of Pacific Highway South for reports of a shooting. Police said it started with an argument between two people inside the bar that spilled outside.

Eyewitnesses said the shooters opened fire on people in the parking lot. And they said there were about 200 people in this parking lot when the shooting started.

Two men and woman were killed, and three others were badly injured.

Evidence of what happened outside the pub was still present Sunday evening as a violent Saturday night gave way to the gloom of the following Sunday morning.

“It started over there at the Walgreens,” said Natalia Silva, “and it came from there to the parking lot over here.”

Silva was asleep next door in the Red Lion Inn when the shooting started.

“Everybody started screaming, and people just started going crazy,” she said. “It was like a war zone out here.”

Des Moines police said there was an argument at about 2 a.m. Sunday that spilled out into the parking lot, where numerous shots were fired.

“At this point, we are not 100% sure the victims are related to the suspects,” said Sgt. Scott Oak. “We just know that everybody was here. It sounds like two people got into a dispute, and other people tried to intervene to stop that. And they may have been involved as victims. But we’re not sure yet. We’re still investigating.”

“I was parked here at the time,” said Keith Rogers, pointing to a parking space in the Red Lion parking lot. “And there was blood along the whole front of my car.”

Rogers, a guest at the inn, said one of the victims sought refuge there.

“He was alive when he left,” Rogers said. “Yeah, in the ambulance. That’s what I was told.”

Oak said the shooting is part of a troubling trend.

“Violence in South King County right now is crazy,” Oak said. “Our resources are spread thin. We’re short-staffed. So this sort of, this is just, it’s all too common.”

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Now a memorial to the victims is growing.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, one person remains in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Detectives believe there were three shooters in two cars firing into this parking lot. But they do not know who they are. They said most people here refused to talk to them.

Anyone who was there and knows anything about what happened is asked to call Des Moines police.