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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1772258/posts
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/300649_shooting22.html
KENT -- Police say a gunman who opened fire in a busy Denny's restaurant Sunday, wounding five people, had fought with patrons, quickly returned with a gun and appeared to have fired randomly, causing terrified customers and employees to dive under tables.
Police arrested two men in the early-morning shooting. They say the shooting suspect, a 23-year-old Kent man, had a .40- caliber semiautomatic pistol.
The second man in custody was in the car with the suspect when he was arrested, just outside the restaurant and shortly after the shooting. He was also armed, but police do not believe he fired his weapon.
All the victims -- four men and one woman -- were treated at hospitals. Police knew little of their injuries. One man was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. All had been customers; none was an employee.
"It was clear there was pandemonium," Kent police Lt. Bruce Weissich said. He said he had watched a tape of the shooting recorded by a security camera in the restaurant.
Weissich said it was unclear whether the gunman had known the people he had fought with before the shooting. But Weissich said the man, when he returned, did not point his gun at or approach anyone in particular.
"I believe that the shooter's actions were more random than specific and directly focused."
The rampage was the latest burst of gun violence in the region this month, which began New Year's Day in a crowded Skyway bowling alley with three people shot. That holiday weekend alone, Seattle police investigated three other unrelated shootings.
On Jan. 3, a Tacoma high school student was killed in front of his locker. The next day, Seattle police shot a suspected car thief. Last week, Seattle police again drew their weapons, killing a suspected drug dealer in a shootout on Aurora Avenue.
The violence, coupled with a sharp rise in gun-related aggravated assaults in Seattle last year, have prompted Seattle officials to urge state legislators to pass new gun-control measures this session.
In Kent, police said the suspect had been in an altercation Saturday night at HD Hotspurs, a bar and restaurant more than a mile away. It was unclear how that incident was related, if at all, to the shooting.
Shortly after 2 a.m., the man entered the Denny's at 1246 N. Central Ave. in Kent, police said. He got into a verbal tiff with some patrons, which escalated into a fistfight. At the time, there was a "good-sized crowd" at the 24-hour restaurant, Weissich said.
In the chaos after the shooting, police struggled to determine the number of victims, because some had gone on their own to hospitals, including Valley Medical Center in Renton.
But many witnesses stayed to help police identify the suspect, who was arrested without a fight.
"The bystanders and witnesses were really helpful about pointing exactly where the suspect was, which was notable in that highly charged emotional scene," Chief Steve Strachan said.
The suspect has a history of misdemeanors, including a fourth-degree, domestic-violence assault in August and a conviction for possession of stolen property. He is expected to be arraigned early this week.
The restaurant remained closed Sunday. A local manager declined to comment and referred calls to a corporate spokesperson.
The suspected shooter is scheduled to make a court appearance Monday afternoon.
RECENT HIGH-PROFILE SHOOTINGS
Jan. 17: A Seattle police officer was wounded in a shootout on Aurora Avenue North during which a suspected drug dealer was shot to death.
Jan. 3: Samnang Kok, a 17-year-old student is killed at Henry Foss High School in Tacoma. Police believe a classmate shot him.
Jan. 1: Three people were shot, prosecutors allege, by a woman at the crowded Skyway Park Bowl and Casino after a brawl. A 19-year-old Kent man was reportedly shot in a drive-by in the Central District and a 21-year-old man is found shot in the back and the head in Pioneer Square.
Oct. 7, 2006: Daniel Allen Cullotti, 25, is shot to death by a 52-year-old man he attacked near Fourth Avenue and Pine Street in Seattle. Police say the shooting was an act of self-defense.
July 28, 2006: Pamela Jean Waechter, 58, is slain and five other women wounded in a shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1772258/posts
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/300649_shooting22.html
KENT -- Police say a gunman who opened fire in a busy Denny's restaurant Sunday, wounding five people, had fought with patrons, quickly returned with a gun and appeared to have fired randomly, causing terrified customers and employees to dive under tables.
Police arrested two men in the early-morning shooting. They say the shooting suspect, a 23-year-old Kent man, had a .40- caliber semiautomatic pistol.
The second man in custody was in the car with the suspect when he was arrested, just outside the restaurant and shortly after the shooting. He was also armed, but police do not believe he fired his weapon.
All the victims -- four men and one woman -- were treated at hospitals. Police knew little of their injuries. One man was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. All had been customers; none was an employee.
"It was clear there was pandemonium," Kent police Lt. Bruce Weissich said. He said he had watched a tape of the shooting recorded by a security camera in the restaurant.
Weissich said it was unclear whether the gunman had known the people he had fought with before the shooting. But Weissich said the man, when he returned, did not point his gun at or approach anyone in particular.
"I believe that the shooter's actions were more random than specific and directly focused."
The rampage was the latest burst of gun violence in the region this month, which began New Year's Day in a crowded Skyway bowling alley with three people shot. That holiday weekend alone, Seattle police investigated three other unrelated shootings.
On Jan. 3, a Tacoma high school student was killed in front of his locker. The next day, Seattle police shot a suspected car thief. Last week, Seattle police again drew their weapons, killing a suspected drug dealer in a shootout on Aurora Avenue.
The violence, coupled with a sharp rise in gun-related aggravated assaults in Seattle last year, have prompted Seattle officials to urge state legislators to pass new gun-control measures this session.
In Kent, police said the suspect had been in an altercation Saturday night at HD Hotspurs, a bar and restaurant more than a mile away. It was unclear how that incident was related, if at all, to the shooting.
Shortly after 2 a.m., the man entered the Denny's at 1246 N. Central Ave. in Kent, police said. He got into a verbal tiff with some patrons, which escalated into a fistfight. At the time, there was a "good-sized crowd" at the 24-hour restaurant, Weissich said.
In the chaos after the shooting, police struggled to determine the number of victims, because some had gone on their own to hospitals, including Valley Medical Center in Renton.
But many witnesses stayed to help police identify the suspect, who was arrested without a fight.
"The bystanders and witnesses were really helpful about pointing exactly where the suspect was, which was notable in that highly charged emotional scene," Chief Steve Strachan said.
The suspect has a history of misdemeanors, including a fourth-degree, domestic-violence assault in August and a conviction for possession of stolen property. He is expected to be arraigned early this week.
The restaurant remained closed Sunday. A local manager declined to comment and referred calls to a corporate spokesperson.
The suspected shooter is scheduled to make a court appearance Monday afternoon.
RECENT HIGH-PROFILE SHOOTINGS
Jan. 17: A Seattle police officer was wounded in a shootout on Aurora Avenue North during which a suspected drug dealer was shot to death.
Jan. 3: Samnang Kok, a 17-year-old student is killed at Henry Foss High School in Tacoma. Police believe a classmate shot him.
Jan. 1: Three people were shot, prosecutors allege, by a woman at the crowded Skyway Park Bowl and Casino after a brawl. A 19-year-old Kent man was reportedly shot in a drive-by in the Central District and a 21-year-old man is found shot in the back and the head in Pioneer Square.
Oct. 7, 2006: Daniel Allen Cullotti, 25, is shot to death by a 52-year-old man he attacked near Fourth Avenue and Pine Street in Seattle. Police say the shooting was an act of self-defense.
July 28, 2006: Pamela Jean Waechter, 58, is slain and five other women wounded in a shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.