Eastside couple shocked to see multiple gunmen firing down Seattle street
Jan 22, 2015, 1:11 PM | Updated: 2:10 pm
A man and his girlfriend were driving home from a networking event in downtown Seattle Wednesday night when they say they ran into a shootout on the streets.
Aaron tells KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that he and his girlfriend were stopped at a red light at Third Avenue and Pine Street around 8:15 p.m., just minding their own business when they heard gunshots.
“We heard 10 to 15 loud pops and immediately we saw a group of gentlemen firing guns down Pine Street toward (Pike Place Market).”
From what he could tell, Aaron says it appeared there were around five or six people firing.
“They weren’t just firing for the heck of it. It looked like they were after someone.”
According to Aaron, they were about 30 yards from the group with the guns.
“We were the first car at the light and they were just a hop, skip, and a jump [away]. So we kind of froze up and had some fearful moments pass right there.”
After all the gunfire, Aaron says it was chaos. They could hear people screaming. He says a man who appeared to be leaving the scene ran in their direction.
“One of the guys actually fell in front of my car as he was running away from the scene.”
Aaron says the violence was really a surprise on what seemed like a pretty quiet night.
“It kind of looked like just a peaceful evening and people were just minding their own business and then shots rang out. It was really just surreal to see that,” he says. “You hear about it on the news. You hear that these things are happening, but to see it live and 30 yards from you is just a huge shock and disbelief that these things do happen.”
The Eastside father of two says his family likes to come into Seattle and play tourist, but an incident like this has him reconsidering.
“All that stuff puts a lot of fear in the citizens that are trying to be normal and just have a good time down there. There’s a lot to offer downtown, there’s so much history and it really is fun down there. It’s just unfortunate these things happen at 8:15 at night, when there was quite a bit of people on the street.”
Two people, a 16-year-old man and 25-year-old man, were injured in the incident. They were both transported to Harborview Medical Center.
Police are still searching for what they say are multiple suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call the SPD Homicide/assault tip line at (206) 233-5000.
