On Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 at around 2:09 p.m., the King County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center received numerous 911 calls from the area of S. 160th Street and 34th Ave S. in SeaTac (map below), where they found a 30-year old male with life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Deputies arrived at the scene of the shooting and located a 30-year-old male victim laying on the ground at the southwest corner of the intersection. He appeared to have numerous gunshot wounds to his torso. King County Medics arrived and stated that the victim’s injuries were life-threatening and they were forced to intubate him to stabilize him. He was then transported to Harborview Medical Center.

Callers stated that someone had just been shot at that intersection and was laying on the ground. One of the callers stated that the shooter had left the scene southbound on 34th Ave S. in a gold SUV. As KCSO Deputies were coming into the area a Sergeant observed a gold Dodge Journey traveling southbound on Military Road S., south of the area of the shooting.

At 2:16 p.m., approximately 7 minutes after the 911 calls, a KCSO Sergeant located a gold Dodge Journey with no license plates and a silver cross-bar roof rack, traveling onto southbound I-5 from S. 188th Street. Per Google Maps the drive from the shooting scene to where the vehicle was observed getting onto I-5 should take approximately 6 minutes. Numerous KCSO Deputies caught up with the Sergeant and followed the vehicle to the City of Tacoma where a traffic stop was conducted on I-5. The driver of the vehicle pulled over and was detained without incident. He was identified as a 6’2” black male with short black hair wearing a black, red and white stocking cap and black hooded sweatshirt over a long-sleeve grey shirt. As he was being taken into custody he made the unsolicited statement that there was a firearm in the vehicle. KCSO Deputies observed a “Walther” brand pistol box on the front passenger seat and what appeared to be at least one fired casing inside of the vehicle.

King County prosecutors were in court on Friday, Jan. 13 arguing that the suspect is a danger to the community and should be held on $5 million bail.

The judge found probable cause for three counts of Assault in the First Degree and set bail at $3 million.

Here’s more from charging documents:

Five 9mm fired casings were found on the ground next to where the victim was found. Multiple subjects in the area witnessed the shooting and stated that a gold Dodge Journey with no license plates on it and a silver roof rack stopped in the middle of the road at the intersection. The driver was seen by several witnesses exiting the vehicle, briefly talking to the victim, then pulling out a handgun and firing it at him from point-black range “4 or 5 times.” The witnesses then observed the shooter get back into the driver’s seat and drive away southbound on 34th Ave S.

The witnesses described the suspect as a dark-skinned male, tall with short black hair, wearing a long-sleeve grey shirt. One of them took several pictures of the suspect vehicle as it drove away southbound and provided them to police. The pictures shows a gold Dodge Journey with no rear license plate and a large silver cross-bar roof rack. Police say that a Ring Doorbell camera approximately 100 yards south of the intersection captured the same vehicle traveling south bound on 34th Ave S.

At 2:14 p.m., Valley Communications advised that they had two shootings shortly after 1 p.m., and that the suspect in both of those shootings had been seen leaving in a gold Dodge Journey.

The vehicle did not have any license plates on it but a records check of the VIN# confirmed that the vehicle is registered to the suspect. He was the only occupant of the vehicle. Based on his unique vehicle matching the vehicle seen and photographed leaving the shooting and his physical characteristics matching the description of the shooter provided by the witnesses and his statement that there was a firearm inside of the vehicle and the apparent fired casings inside of the vehicle.

The suspect was taken into custody for Investigation of Assault and transported to the KCSO SeaTac precinct.