Video: Man running from police was not shooter, but second victim

Deputies tracked a man through a wooded area of the SeaTac region after he was seen fleeing a fatal shooting. A helicopter was called in, and dogs were sent tracking through the area. But it turns out, the man running from police was not the person they were looking for. He was another victim of the shooting.

“At about 4:13 p.m. [Thursday] we received a call for shots fired,” said Cindi West with the King County Sheriff’s Office.

“This happened on the north end of the airport. There are no residences there, it’s mostly a business district,” West explained. “It’s kind of unusual for us to see something like this in an area like that.”

Police arrived at 24th Avenue South and 154th Street to find a man laying on the ground outside his car. He was dead from a gunshot wound.

Deputies also received reports of a second man running from the scene.

“A witness also told us that at the time of the shooting they saw a black male, wearing a black shirt running westbound on 154th in the area of the shooting,” West said. “Another witness said they saw that person jump a fence.”

King County Sheriff’s deputies and SWAT teams began to search the area for that second man.

Deputies and police helicopter tracked the man down into a nearby wooded area. The helicopter followed the man using a heat-sensing camera.

“He was detained,” West said. “We have more questions today than we have answers.”

King County Deputies are now reporting that the man apprehended in the woods, running from the shooting, was not the shooter, rather, he is another victim.

The man who fled the scene was also in the car, and ran after his friend was shot. Both victims are in their 20s and from Federal Way.

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this article.