Witnesses: Driver fatally shot, crashes into other cars in Kent, WA
Driver fatally shot, crashes into other cars in Kent
Kent police say a person was fatally shot in the East Hill neighborhood Monday afternoon, killed while behind the wheel by a man claiming self-defense.
KENT, Wash. - Kent police say a person was fatally shot in the East Hill neighborhood Monday afternoon outside the 24 East Hill Market.
A witness told FOX 13 that someone on foot fired at the victim while he was at the wheel, hitting and killing him.
"There wasn’t anything leading up to it," he said.
The backstory:
It was around 2:30 p.m. when the witness, who didn't want to be fully identified, saw the shooting unfold outside the 24 East Hill Market.
"There was a gentleman walking through the parking lot, and a car exiting at the same time," he said.
A man on foot was taking a right turn onto the sidewalk. At the same time, he said a driver was also taking a right turn in his black SUV.
"It was almost instantaneous," said the witness.
Suddenly, shots rang out.
"As they both went to make the right-hand turn out of the parking lot, the gentleman on foot drew his weapon and proceeded to fire into the vehicle."
Though the driver was wounded, the SUV was still in gear, it drove on, crossing the center line, into oncoming traffic, hitting a black sedan, pushing that smaller car onto the sidewalk, then hitting and pinning a gold, metallic SUV.
Security video captured the cars involved in the crash. In it, you could see the black sedan seconds before it was hit by the shooting victim's SUV. They collided just behind a white van that's blocking the view of the camera. The victim's SUV then continues on, next hitting the gold, metallic SUV that's turning right, spinning it around until it comes to a stop against the curb.
Residents were surprised to learn a shooting preceded the crash.
"When I came into the street, I saw the black car was dented in the middle. I thought it was a car accident," said Marvin Alexander. "All I saw was the car knocked up on the curb."
As for the accused shooter, the witness said he handed over his gun.
"He approached me, said that they had displayed a weapon and that he was defending himself," said the witness.
Kent police say the accused shooter, who is 28, remained at the scene and cooperated with police.
"He looked like he had an adrenaline dump from having just shot somebody. He didn’t really seem upset or disturbed," said the witness. "He asked me to call 911 and proceeded to surrender his weapon to me peacefully."
Kent Police say they had to extricate the victim out of his vehicle, and he died at the scene. Investigators have not confirmed the information provided by witnesses on Monday. They only said that the circumstances leading up to the shooting were not immediately clear, and the investigation was ongoing.
The Source: Information in this story came from Kent Police and original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.
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