A man was shot in the hip during a reported drive-by shooting in Lake Forest Park late Friday night, sending residents running and screaming as gunfire erupted near Northeast 179th Court and 28th Avenue Northeast. Officers and fire crews rushed the victim to a Seattle hospital for treatment, while the suspect or suspects fled before police could arrive at the scene.
Officers responded to the area around 10:28 p.m. on October 3, according to an official police release reported by Shoreline Area News, which noted that media inquiries on the case are being directed to Lake Forest Park Police Commander Ross Adams. Residents in the area reported hearing numerous gunshots and seeing people running and screaming, according to KIRO 7 News. When officers arrived, they found a man who had been shot in the hip, and officers and fire crews provided first aid before transporting him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.
Preliminary information indicated the shooting may have been a drive-by, police told the station, though the suspect or suspects had already left the scene by the time officers got there. Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun along with multiple shell casings at the site, and the investigation remains ongoing. It is not yet known whether the recovered handgun belonged to the victim or to the suspect, nor whether the shooting was targeted or random.
Small Department Leans on Regional Backup
Multiple neighboring law enforcement agencies responded alongside Lake Forest Park officers to help secure the scene and conduct the initial investigation, the same report notes. That kind of mutual aid is routine for the department, which maintains a small force of roughly 16 to 20 commissioned officers, according to public safety testing and municipal records compiled by the National Testing Network. For complex felony investigations, the department is a member of the Coalition of Small Police Agencies, a cooperative formed in 2002 that operates a shared Major Crimes Task Force across 12 King County jurisdictions, according to the City of Black Diamond…