Auburn man fatally shoots another man near Kent hotel

One Auburn man reportedly fatally shot another Auburn man during a dispute Wednesday morning in Kent.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting at about 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the Hawthorn Suites hotel, 6329 S. 212th St., according to a Kent Police media release.

Police discovered an unresponsive man with a gunshot wound to his upper torso. Lifesaving efforts by officers and medics were made, but the 48-year-old Auburn man later died at a local hospital.

Shortly after the shooting, Kent Police arrested a 22-year-old Auburn man for investigation of killing the man.

Preliminary information is that a verbal dispute escalated between the victim and another man known to him. The younger man fired a shot and fled the scene. Police did not release what the dispute might have been about.

It is believed that there are no other suspects, and the incident is specific to those involved. Detectives continued to gather information from witnesses and collect evidence from the scene.

This marks the second killing in three weeks near the Hawthorn Suites. Kent Police are still trying to figure out who brutally assaulted a 36-year-old Port Angeles man in a common outside area of the hotel on Dec. 15. Christopher Ochs died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle six days after the attack from the head injuries he suffered. Detectives said the attack did not appear to be a random incident and that the suspects, who remain at-large, may have known Ochs.