Person sought in connection to shooting that killed 2, injured 1 in Capitol Hill

by Jackie Kent, KOMO News Reporter

Updated Thu, May 4th 2023 at 2:21 PM

Seattle police are looking for one person connected to a shooting in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood that killed two men and critically injured a third man. The missing person’s involvement in the incident was unclear as of Monday evening.

The shooting around 10:30 p.m. Saturday at Cal Anderson Park marks the second deadly shooting on Capitol Hill in a month.

“I saw two people hit the ground, get shot completely dead,” said a skateboarder named Kai. “I was over here skateboarding. There was a huge skateboard event happening. I look to my left and I see, ‘Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!’ And we all hit the ground and we all laid down.”

“It was sad too because there were 40 people at the skate park. Everybody was enjoying themselves,” said the skateboarder who wanted to stay anonymous.

The night of the shooting, Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz acknowledged this tragedy marked the second deadly shooting on Capitol Hill in April. The first was a case of road rage gone wrong.

“We have a lot of people out here trying to enjoy their night and this is what happens. People are too quick to pick up a gun,” Diaz stated.

Some people in the area have said they’d like the city to add more park lighting for safety.

“I wish it was just like a little bit more security, just like- not like cops, just like security in general,” added the anonymous skateboarder.

A manager with the security company Iron and Oak said they have 55 security officers walking the neighborhood at any given time to protect about 20 businesses. They’re helping with the police investigation by providing surveillance video they say captured the whole incident.

Some people who admit to feeling desensitized to gun violence said they worry these incidents will keep people from visiting Capitol Hill.

“People across the country, I feel like when they hear Capitol Hill [and] Seattle, they think bad stuff already,” Kai added.

KOMO News asked the Seattle Police Department if more patrols were planned in the area in light of the recent shootings, and a spokesperson said in a statement, "While we can’t discuss allocation of resources, preventing and responding to violent crime is a priority. The Seattle Police Department places priority on public and community safety – and we take it very seriously."