Man reportedly flashes gun outside Safeway, then gets shot

MILL CREEK — An argument about driving may have led to a shooting in a Safeway parking lot in Mill Creek late Thursday night, police say.

A 24-year-old man told Mill Creek police that he had just parked when someone confronted him, apparently mad about his driving. Except he wasn’t sure what he had done wrong.

The Mill Creek man went inside the store at 16304 Bothell-Everett Highway to grab some food. On his way back to his car, the same man, 60, from Bothell, stopped him again.

This time, the older man allegedly displayed a gun. On security footage, he could be seen pointing his arm at the other man, Mill Creek Police Deputy Chief Scott Eastman said.

However, Eastman said, “it’s difficult to tell if there’s anything in his hand.”

The younger man fired his own gun. Around 11:45 p.m., he called 911, reporting the shooting.

Security camera video released by Mill Creek police shows the moments before a shooting in the parking lot of a Safeway store in Mill Creek late Thursday night.

Injured, the older man got inside his car, where officers later found a gun.

He was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with multiple gunshot wounds. He was in critical condition in the intensive care unit Friday afternoon, Harborview spokeswoman Susan Gregg wrote in an email.

No one has been arrested and the investigation is ongoing, Eastman said.

Eastman said the younger man had a concealed weapons permit. He works as a security guard, but not for Safeway, and he wasn’t on the job Thursday night. He has been cooperating with the investigation, Eastman said.

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.