SULTAN — Video surveillance may help detectives find out who was involved in a fight in Sultan early Wednesday that ended in death for a Lynnwood teenager.
Late Wednesday night, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office announced it had made three arrests related to the slaying. A 19-year-old Sultan man was booked into the Snohomish County jail on a count of second-degree murder, and a 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl, both from Sultan, were booked into the Denney Juvenile Justice Center on a count each of second-degree murder.
The two males are brothers who lived at the house in the 200 block of Cedar Street where detectives served a search warrant earlier today, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said. The female is not related to the brothers.
Several buildings along Main Street in the small, rural town in eastern Snohomish County, have cameras silently recording what’s taking place, officials said.
Some images of the assault were captured. Police believe several young people were involved in the assault.
“Detectives will continue to review the video to see if they can learn more,” Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the Lynnwood teen was doing in Sultan or what sparked the fatal attack.
Witnesses said a group of young adults scurried away from downtown Sultan early Wednesday.
When police arrived just after midnight, they found the teenager clinging to life.
He was barely breathing and his heartbeat was faint.
The young man, 16 or 17, hasn’t been publicly identified. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner is expected to do an autopsy.
Snohomish County major crimes detectives were focusing on a Sultan home Wednesday in their effort to explain the stabbing.
A search warrant was obtained to go into a home in the 200 block of Cedar Street, Hover said. Police are familiar with the house, which has a history of noise complaints.
Several people were being interviewed about the attack, Hover said. No arrests were made Wednesday.
Neighbors called police around 12:20 a.m. to report a fight near Fourth and Main Streets, Hover said.
Medics rushed to treat the boy, Snohomish County Fire District 5 Chief Merlin Halverson said.
They bundled the teenager into an aid car and rushed him to the Monroe airfield. He was loaded into a helicopter and flown to Seattle.
The boy could not be revived.
On Wednesday morning, detectives went door-to-door in Sultan interviewing people.
Prudence Markley, 54, said that about the same time as the assault, she saw a group of about eight young people lingering in front of her home, near the house deputies searched.
“All of a sudden everybody just split,” she said.
Driving around town in Wednesday’s early hours, high school sophomore Garret Varnell saw the boy in the street.
At first, he believed it was a drunk. Later he learned, the teen was stabbed.
“It kind of scared me,” Varnell, 16, said.
Sheriff’s office homicide detectives last were summoned to Sultan on July 26 to investigate the death of David Grim, 49. Two people, Debra Canady and Brent Starr, were arrested and convicted. They face at least 22 years behind bars.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office provides police services in Sultan through a contract with the city.
Jolene Aldridge, 34, moved to Sultan from Seattle a couple of months ago.
She expected violence in the big city but not here, she said.
“This is all shocking that this could happen in this town,” she said.
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com
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