EVERETT — A man in his 20s was taken to a hospital Tuesday afternoon after he was shot in the leg south of Everett.
The shooting happened shortly before 2 p.m in the 12800 block of 8th Avenue West, according to a press release. Deputies were looking for the suspect.
He was described as black and wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He was last seen running along 128th Street SW toward I-5, police said.
The south Everett-area has been plagued by gang violence over the past two years. More than three dozen shootings in south Snohomish County have been connected to gangs since January 2015. Much of the violence is spurred by rivalry between four gangs. It wasn’t immediately known if Tuesday’s shooting was connected to gang activity.
The shooting also followed a series of gunshots reported May 2 and 7. Bullets struck an apartment complex on 128th Street SW. One of the bullets broke through a tenant’s wall while she was home and lodged into her ceiling.
A teenage boy who lives at the complex appears to have ties to a gang. Someone previously had threatened to shoot him, police said.
In March, police uncovered two loaded handguns that had been buried near the playground at Olivia Park Elementary School, less than two miles from Tuesday’s assault. One of the guns was said to have been used in a February drive-by shooting at a nearby house on 107th Place West.
Tuesday’s gunfire occurred a few blocks west of where Anthony Camacho, 17, was shot in 2015. A confirmed gang member was convicted of first-degree murder for the homicide. Camacho was not in a gang, but had friends who were. The day after the shooting, the suspect’s family told police someone had spray-painted a rival gang’s initials near their home.
The major crimes unit with the sheriff’s office is investigating Tuesday’s shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.
Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com
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