3 teens plead not guilty to brandishing handguns at Chinatown Seafair Parade, face hearings

Update (7/30)

Pre-trial hearings are expected soon in the case of the three teenage boys facing charges after bringing fully automatic handguns to the Chinatown Seafair Parade on July 21. Attorneys for the two 14-year-olds and one 13-year-old, accused of carrying the illegally modified, high-capacity handguns, are scheduled to meet on August 14 to set a date for their hearing.

In the meantime, King County Prosecutor’s Juvenile Division Chief, Jimmy Hung, said even if the teenagers are convicted they won’t face nearly as much time behind bars as an adult who commits the same crime.

Court documents stated one of the teenage suspects is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, while the other two are charged with one count each of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a machine gun. Under the Revised Code of Washington, those charges are automatic felonies for juveniles.

However, Hung said if prosecutors convict a juvenile for those charges, state law limits the time a juvenile can be held in detention to 30 days. It’s not until a juvenile is convicted five times for unlawful possession of a firearm that a juvenile can be sentenced to serve serious time.

“In our state, it takes four prior convictions for a child’s fifth conviction to allow a judge to sentence a kid to our state juvenile institution,” Hung said. “Even when we do that that’s only for 15 to 36 weeks.”

Prosecutors in King County have recently expressed concern about a rash in juvenile gun-related cases. They said they’ve filed more than 300 juvenile felony offenses this year alone which has prompted them to launch a new strategy to both warn citizens and educate public criticism.

“People tell me prosecutors aren’t doing enough to prosecute people and keep them off the street,” Hung added. “That might be their perception, but the reality is prosecutors could be doing exactly what they should do and doing exactly what the law allows them to do and the results are what they are.”

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is supporting calls for new laws to end youth gun violence.

Update (7/26)

Three teens who allegedly brought fully automatic guns to the Chinatown Seafair Parade on July 21 pleaded not guilty to their respective felony charges.

The teens — two 14-year-olds and one 13-year-old — are facing felony charges for unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a machine gun. A judge released one of the 14-year-olds onto electronic home monitoring while the other two remain in detention for the community’s safety.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) released body camera video of their arrests at Sunday’s parade.

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Original Story (7/23)

Seattle police arrested three teens — two 14-year-olds and one 13-year-old — during the Chinatown Seafair Parade on Sunday for having and displaying loaded guns.

The boys were caught near the intersection of South Weller Street and 7th Avenue South.

“The Seafair Parade has hundreds, if not thousands of people and so if there was an incident that got out of control and these weapons were used, a lot of members of our community could be at risk of being hurt,” Seattle Police Department (SPD) Detective Eric Munoz told KIRO Newsradio on Tuesday.

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The parents of a teen killed on July 12, in Auburn, made the 911 call. They saw the boys displaying guns and believed the teens were involved in their son’s death, but Seattle police could not confirm. However, SPD is working with police in Auburn to see if there’s a connection.

Officers quickly arrived in Chinatown and detained the three teens.

Two of the three firearms confiscated turned up stolen and had been modified to make them fully automatic. Specifically, one teenager had a handgun that was modified to equip a 30-round magazine and an auto-sear for automatic firing.

“We recovered a loaded handgun,” Munoz said. “A loaded modified handgun with a 30-round magazine with automatic firing, a loaded untraceable Polimer-80 handgun that also allows for automatic firing.”

Munoz said the Polimer-80 handgun is the most concerning of all.

“That is a handgun, essentially the type of weapon you can build,” Munoz said. “Essentially, they are untraceable. So, they don’t have a serial number on them.”

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The boys could face charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful carrying of a pistol and felony harassment. They were all booked into the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children & Family Justice Center.

SPD said the investigation is ongoing and encouraged anyone with information about the teens to call SPD’s Violent Crime Tip Line at (206) 233-5000, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

This story was originally published on July 23, 2024. It has been updated and republished since then.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.

James Lynch is a reporter at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of James’ stories here. Follow James on X, or email him here.

Luke Duecy is a reporter for KIRO Newsradio.