Witness heard 'pop' and saw 'a man fall' during Seattle transit station shooting
Witness recalls shooting at Northgate Transit Station
Seattle police are looking for two people they say ambushed a man getting off the light rail at the Northgate Transit Station in Seattle and shot him in the back of the head Monday morning.
SEATTLE - Seattle Police are looking for two people who they say ambushed a man getting off the light rail and shot him in the back of the head this morning.
The victim, a 48-year-old, was still hospitalized and listed as critical on Monday afternoon.
A witness who was on her morning commute said that she heard one shot, and saw the man fall at the base of the escalator.
"I heard a pop sound, I saw some pigeons fly up off the roof," the witness said.
It was during the hustle and bustle of the busy morning commute when she said that sound of gunfire caused everything to stop.
"I saw a guy fall, I saw another guy grab something that may or may not have been a gun and run away."
She didn't want to appear fully on camera for safety reasons. She said she happened to be crossing the street and heading towards the station when she heard that "pop" and saw the victim collapse. She says someone next to her called 911.
"I just remember hearing ‘pop,’ looking up, seeing the pigeons just fly, saw him fall, saw the other guy grab something and run," she said.
She says another witness told all of the people involved had been heading down on the escalator.
"They saw the shooter coming down the escalator and possibly a second person behind the one who got shot and point the gun and shoot him, no conversation or anything," she said.
Commuter Kali Thompson says her train from Shoreline pulled into the Northgate station shortly after the shooting.
"I noticed they weren’t opening the south end doors on the train, so we had to go farther down the train to get on and off," said Thompson.
She had no idea a man had been shot.
"There was no communication or anything and when I came through, I had no idea there was any incident at the station," said Thompson.
She says Sound Transit sent this text alert at 8:07 p.m. that read, "Entrance B2 closure at Northgate Station due to police activity." It did not say anything about a shooting or suspects on the loose.
"I think they were calling it police activity," said Thompson. "Very vague."
Sound Transit told FOX 13 that they put out an alert about a police presence, but did not get into the specifics of the investigation.
Riders say it's making them think twice about safety.
"Getting too close to home, all this, whatever happened, just kind of scary," said Janice Lamers, a regular Sound Transit rider.
"It’s scary thinking that that’s going on around here," said Thompson.
Sound Transit says it's adding more security to the station following the shooting.
The Source: Information in this story came from Seattle Police, Sound Transit and original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.
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