LYNNWOOD — A 16-year-old boy, and possibly others, are being investigated in connection with a shooting that wounded three people during a drug deal at Lynndale Park last month, Lynnwood police said.
One of the wounded, a woman in her late teens, remained hospitalized Monday, nearly two weeks after the shooting.
The 16-year-old suspect recently posted $25,000 bail.
Officers responded to Blue Ridge Drive near Olympic View Drive around 8:30 p.m. Sept. 19. They went to talk to a group of young adults in a Ford Explorer riddled with bullet holes and with several broken windows, according to court papers.
A front-seat passenger, the woman in her teens, had a gunshot wound to her neck and shoulders, the report says. The Explorer driver, a man in his early 20s, had a gunshot wound to his upper left arm. A back-seat passenger, another woman in her late teens, had what police described as a small wound to her cheek, possibly from shrapnel or broken glass.
All of the occupants were taken to hospitals. The woman with the neck injuries remained at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Monday in satisfactory condition, according to the hospital. Shortly after the shooting, authorities had described her status as critical.
One of the passengers told police they had gone to nearby Lynndale Park for a drug deal. The report describes them trying to sell sheets of paper resembling LSD hits that didn’t contain any actual LSD.
They arranged the meeting over Snapchat, a social media app, the report says. They knew the other person only by a screen name and a profile picture that showed him with “a man bun and smoking a marijuana joint.”
The two carloads full of young people met at a Lynndale parking lot, the report states. The person from the Snapchat profile got inside the Explorer. For some reason, the Explorer driver panicked and started pulling away. That’s when the other group opened fire.
At some point, the Snapchat person escaped from the Explorer.
Police found two types of shell casings from semi-automatic handguns in the parking lot, the report says. An officer also noticed a pellet gun in the Explorer.
Officers caught up with at least one suspect the next afternoon. A police report describes the 16-year-old as one of two car passengers who ran away after a brief pursuit and crash on 188th Street SW, west of Highway 99. The chase started after an officer noticed a Hyundai Sonata driving recklessly. The car reportedly blew through four-way stops and appeared to lose control before crashing into another vehicle.
The 16-year-old was detained nearby for questioning and released, but arrested the following day, police said.
He is being investigated for first-degree assault in connection with the Lynndale park shooting, as well as second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm for a handgun officers recovered at the time of his arrest, according to court papers.
The traffic stop also led to the arrest of the car’s driver, an 18-year-old wanted in connection with another case, police said. Officers recovered two handguns from the glove box, the report states. One of the guns had been reported stolen in Mill Creek in 2017.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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