A former Snohomish County deputy prosecutor was supposed to face Bellevue attorney Kevin Jung Wednesday morning in a Snohomish County courtroom.
Instead, police suspect the two crossed paths in the parking lot of Jung’s Bellevue office, where Jung was shot shortly after 9:15 a.m. Wednesday.
Witnesses reported hearing multiple shots fired outside the Park Heights Building, 1800 112th Ave. NE in Bellevue. Officers found Jung inside a white Lexus with a broken window.
Jung was taken to Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, where he was in critical but stable condition Wednesday night.
Witnesses described the shooting suspect and his car, and gave officers the car’s license plate number. That led officers to the former deputy prosecutor, who now has a private practice in Mill Creek.
Everett police took the man into custody at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and turned him over to Bellevue police. The lawyer is a suspect in the shooting, Bellevue Police Department spokesman Michael Chiu said.
The Herald does not name suspects until they are charged.
The lawyer was due to face Jung at 10 a.m. Wednesday for a contempt hearing in a civil case. Jung was asking for Snohomish County Court Commissioner Lester Stewart to issue sanctions against his opponent for failing to respond to requests for information in the case, Stewart said.
When they didn’t show up, “I thought they’d resolved it,” Stewart said, adding that he’d seen the two in court on the same case several months ago and there seemed to be no animosity between them.
Jung was representing a husband and wife who were accusing a couple of defrauding them in the sale of a Korean store. The former prosecutor was representing the defendants.
The former prosecutor had already been fined once in connection with the highly contested case, court records show.
Bellevue investigators would not say Wednesday whether they believed the case was linked to the shooting.
“We are looking at all avenues of motivation,” Chiu said.
The former deputy prosecutor worked for the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office for nine years, resigning Dec. 31, 2000. He tried general felony cases, and was never assigned to the violence or sex units.
In addition to his private practice, he does contract work for the Snohomish County Office of Public Defense, chief criminal prosecutor Mark Roe said.
“People here are stunned. He still has a lot of friends in this office,” Roe said. “My first thought, though, is of the victim and his family.”
Herald reporters Jim Haley and Scott North contributed to this article.
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