LYNNWOOD—Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team (SMART) has launched an investigation of a Lynnwood police-involved shooting after an 18-year-old Lynnwood man arrived at a hospital in Portland for gunshot wounds. The 18-year-old suspect is believed to be connected to an assault in the Target parking lot, near Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, that led to a police chase transpiring in a shootout near the 36th Avenue I-5 onramp last night, Sunday, February 25.
On Tuesday, February 27, law enforcement learned of an 18-year-old Lynnwood man in a Portland hospital receiving treatment for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office reports. It is believed by law enforcement that the 18-year-old man may have been one of the three suspects involved in the gunfire exchange with Lynnwood Police on Sunday, February 25, at approximately 7:30 p.m. on southbound I-5 onramp at 196th Street.
Lynnwood Police Officers were on an unrelated theft call at the Target on Alderwood Mall Parkway around 7:00 p.m. when they witnessed a stolen Hyundai enter the parking lot where it hit a 13-year-old pedestrian and a 15-year-old pedestrian. The vehicle intentionally struck the 15-year-old causing him to fall to the ground with minor injuries, the LPD says.
Officers immediately took action and attempted to stop the Hyundai which fled the scene leading to a short pursuit onto the I5 onramp at 36th avenue and 196th street.
LPD Officers initiated a PIT (precision immobilization technique) stop maneuver on the fleeing stolen vehicle where, upon succeeding, the suspects exited the vehicle, before the officers could exist their own, and continued to flee on foot.
As LPD Officers pursued the suspects on foot the suspects withdrew their firearms and repeatedly discharged their weapons at the pursuing officers. Officers returned fire and the three suspects fled on foot and believed to have been picked up by uninvolved parties.
The Lynnwood Police Department is conducting the criminal investigation into the sequence of events preceding the officer-involved shooting, and the SMART team is investigating the officers’ use of force.
Anyone with information on the alleged suspects are encouraged to contact the Lynnwood Police Department at 425-670-5633 or by email at russsattarov@lynnwoodwa.gov.
Author: Mario Lotmore
