Three people were killed and six more were injured in an early morning shooting around a South Seattle hookah lounge Sunday.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting at Rainier Hookah Lounge, on the 2200 block of Rainier Avenue South, just before 4:30 a.m., according to the Seattle Police Department. When they arrived, they found three people — two men and a woman — inside and outside the lounge who had been shot, Police Chief Adrian Diaz said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The two men, ages 22 and 32, died from their injuries at the scene. Seattle Fire Department medics took the woman, 30, to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. She died later Sunday morning, Diaz said.
While police were still on Rainier Avenue, dispatch officers received reports that more people with gunshot wounds had arrived at Harborview. Four men and a woman, ages 22 to 38, were in stable condition as of Sunday afternoon, Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said at the news conference. A 23-year-old man, who was initially taken to Virginia Mason Medical Center, was later moved to Harborview in critical condition, Scoggins said.
Officers interviewed the victims at the hospital. An investigation is being led by the department's homicide unit.
Police and fire leaders had yet to confirm Sunday afternoon what led to the shooting, and were still talking with the business owners and looking for any video footage. Diaz declined to say how many suspects officers were looking for, but confirmed they recovered at least five guns.
"This was a late, or I should say early morning, incident," Diaz said. "It appeared they might have been trying to shut down the place, as well. But when it comes to the community, I believe it's an isolated incident."
The latest shooting reflects a "disturbing trend of gun violence" in Seattle since the beginning of the summer, Diaz said.
While the number of shootings is down, there's been a significant rise in rounds per shooting, he said. In July, the city saw 18 shootings that involved 20 or more rounds, most of which involved multiple shooters. Police have recovered more than 4,000 shell casings this year, he added.
Officers have also recovered more than 860 guns since January — putting Seattle on track to recover more firearms this year than in the last 13 years, Diaz said.
"It's unacceptable," he said. "It's disturbing, the trend that we're seeing, but we've got to find more ways to make it stop."
Another fatal shooting hit a nearby business on Rainier Avenue earlier this year, when someone shot and killed the co-owner of Rainier Teriyaki in January.
A person was shot and killed during an illegal street racing event on Capitol Hill in July. In April, a Capitol Hill shooting killed a prominent, young Seattle activist.
Most recently, two shooters wounded five more people on a Friday night in Rainier Beach's Safeway parking. The neighborhood, which has been working for years to make the lot a safer space, is still recovering from the early August incident.
By 2 p.m. Sunday, the bustling Rainier Avenue had reopened to traffic, though caution tape still closed off the sidewalk and several officers continued to watch the block.
The hookah lounge, normally open from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day, stayed closed Sunday. Police spokesperson Officer Shawn Weismiller said he wasn't sure when it would reopen.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the police department's violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.
