Three killed, one injured at Auburn tavern
Apr 1, 2013, 5:28 AM | Updated: 2:29 pm
A couple watch Auburn police process the crime scene area where four people were shot and three were killed at the Sports Page in the Parkside Plaza at Auburn on Sunday, March 31, 2013. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Lui Kit Wong)
(AP Photo/The News Tribune, Lui Kit Wong)
Police detectives hope to question a man wounded in a deadly shooting outside an Auburn tavern, if he is able to talk.
“We’re hoping to talk to him today, but that may not go,” Auburn Police Cmdr. Mike Hirman told KIRO Radio.
The injured man, along with three others, were shot in a gunfight outside the Sports Page Tavern in Auburn at closing time around 2 a.m. Sunday.
“When all the patrons were leaving, the physical confrontation took place in the parking lot and firearms were presented and discharged,” says Hirman.
He said several people pulled handguns and fired shots, and three men were killed. The fourth man suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center, Hirman said. The ages of the four run between 21 and 32.
Problems between two groups, one celebrating a birthday, started inside the tavern when two women had a disagreement.
“The dispute started between two women when one of them danced with a man,” Hirman said in a statement late Sunday night.
Hirman said some of the victims and suspects knew each other. The identities of the victims would not be released until Monday afternoon at the earliest, a spokeswoman with the King County Medical Examiner’s office said.
“We have some detectives up there gathering some information,” Hirman said.
Police detained a person of interest and arrested that person on an unrelated weapons charge.
Hirman said this isn’t the first time police have been called to this bar.
“I can’t remember any shootings, but we have been coming up her more frequently lately, so we will be addressing that as well.”
Police have recovered several handguns. They believe several different firearms were used based on shell casings recovered from the scene.
Police in the neighboring suburbs of Federal Way and Kent stopped two vehicles that matched descriptions of cars leaving the scene of the shooting.
Those vehicles were seized, and their occupants were being questioned, said Hirman. The car stopped in Federal Way was riddled with bullets.
KIRO Radio Editor Val Stouffer and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
