No suspect yet in July 2023 Kent murder of Madeline Goldsmith

Kent Police have not yet identified a suspect in the July 4, 2023 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Madeline Goldsmith near Lake Meridian Park.

“The case is still being investigated,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said in an April 12 email. “The detective assigned has some leads that he is working, but right now we have not identified a suspect.”

Goldsmith was featured April 12 in the Kent Reporter and on the newspaper’s website as her legacy of love lives on because she was an organ donor. She lived in Covington and was a 2023 graduate of Kentwood High School.

Last year, Kent Police reported that Goldsmith and a 21-year-old Federal Way man were shot at about 10:30 p.m. July 4 in the area of 15200 SE 272nd Street, just east of where the city held its Fourth of July Splash at Lake Meridian Park.

A 911 caller said that his girlfriend had been shot in the head. Multiple 911 calls reported the shooting.

Officers arrived and located Goldsmith inside a vehicle. She was unresponsive, so the officers pulled her out and immediately began lifesaving measures including CPR and using an AED (automated external defibrillator). The officers were able to regain a pulse and Puget Sound Fire and medics arrived and took over medical care. Goldsmith was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she later died.

A Federal Way man was found a short distance away with a gunshot wound to his thigh, according to police. Officers provided immediate medical aid, and then carried the man to the medical personnel at the original scene.

Witnesses reported seeing unknown persons involved in an argument near the victim vehicle just prior to the shooting, according to police. Initial information indicates that the victim vehicle may not have been involved in the argument.

The only suspect descriptions given were “young males seen running from the area,” according to police.