Kent Police are looking for a man who reportedly shot and critically injured a 30-year-old Bothell man behind the Kent YMCA.
Officers were dispatched at about 6:37 p.m. Thursday, June 15 to the 10800 block of South 248th Street in response to a 911 call of a shooting, according to a Kent Police statement.
Officers were advised that a man had been shot behind the YMCA and the shooter was seen fleeing northbound into a neighborhood. The first two officers to arrive found the man on a Morrill Meadows Park bench with a gunshot wound to his head, according to police.
Officers began CPR and continued until medics arrived. Paramedics transported the man to a local hospital in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. As of Friday morning, June 16, the man was on life support, according to police.
Multiple officers flooded into the area to search for the suspected shooter. A Kent K-9 team tracked through the nearby neighborhood and Washington State Patrol assisted in the search with its air support unit.
“Despite a prolonged and intense effort, the suspect was not located,” according to police.
The suspect is described by witnesses as a tall, skinny Black male in his 20s, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, according to police.
Just prior to the shooting, the Bothell man was sitting on a bench and was approached by the suspect. Witnesses saw a heated argument, then a struggle and then saw the suspect shoot the Bothell man in the head, according to police.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call 911, call the Kent Police tip line at 253-856-5808 or email KPDTipLine@kentwa.gov.
Rash of shootings
This marks the fourth shooting over the past 12 days in Kent that has killed or injured someone:
• June 13: Abubakar Ahmed, 19, of Tukwila, fatally shot inside the AMC Theatre at the Kent Station shopping center. No arrest has been made. Police said it was not a random shooting.
• June 12: An 8-year-old Auburn boy shot and injured while riding in his mother’s car near 104th Avenue SE and SE 236th Street. No arrest has been made.
• June 4: Baba Jawara, 18, of Kent, fatally shot in the 11300 block of SE Kent-Kangley Road. No arrest has been made. Police said it was not a random shooting.
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