MARYSVILLE — A drive-by shooting that sent bullets flying in a Marysville neighborhood may be the work of a gang.
Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the possibility that the gunfire that hit a house last week was gang-related, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
Two Everett men, 18 and 20, were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the Nov. 9 incident. They appeared Thursday in Everett District Court, where a judge ordered them held in jail on $100,000 bail.
The shooting rattled the Rolling Green Estates neighborhood, north of Marysville.
“We always felt kind of safe out here, kind of an isolated little community in the middle of large fields,” Shelia Lyon said.
More crime has come with the boom in development in the area, she said.
“Now, we have graffiti all over the place, cars being stolen and now a drive-by,” Lyon said.
Sheriff’s detectives have been tracking an increase in gang activity in the county. They have found gang members in every city in the county.
Last year an Everett teenager was gunned down in south Everett in a gang-related shooting. He and another man had been the target of a drive-by shooting earlier in the day. One man has been charged in the fatal shooting.
Bullets struck a house and cars parked in the driveway on 59th Drive NE. People were inside the house, but no one was hurt.
Deputies found shell casings on the road. Someone inside reported hearing gunfire and then seeing a green Honda speed away. A witness who was driving in the neighborhood got the license plate number of the fleeing car.
Witnesses told police they believed there was gang activity associated with the Marysville house, according to a police affidavit.
The younger suspect allegedly told police he was having some problems with someone in the house. He drove there with two others and brought a gun with him, according to court documents. He denied firing at the house and told detectives it was the older man who aimed the gun out the passenger side window and shot at the vehicles in the driveway.
He also allegedly told investigators he was involved in another drive-by shooting in Everett. Police reported that the teenager said he provided the gun for the Everett shooing but it was someone else who fired at the house. He told detectives the same gun was used in both shootings and he had thrown it in a lake, according to court records.
The second man who was arrested denied being the shooter. He told police he was driving and the younger man pulled the trigger. He said he didn’t have anything to do with the drive-by shooting in Everett.
People who live in the neighborhood were relieved on Thursday to learn of the arrests.
They hoped the drive-by shooting wasn’t gang-related.
“That could mean a long-term problem,” said Mason Hopkins, president of the neighborhood’s homeowners association.
Hopkins and his neighbors organized a block watch about two years ago to combat what seemed to be a spike of crime in the community. They were seeing more vandalism, graffiti and car thefts. They have noticed improvements since they became organized and built a good partnership with sheriff’s deputies, Mason said.
Last week’s shooting came as a surprise, he said.
“I imagine it’s a onetime thing. I hope it was. It’s a good reminder that we need to remain diligent,” Mason said. “We’ve got children and we want good things for our children.”
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