Renton Police officers with a police canine search a neighborhood near Valley Medical for a suspect in a case unrelated to a nearby shooting at Stonebrook Apartments. Photo courtesy of Scott Ference

Multiple Renton residents have been inquiring on social media about heavy Renton Police presence near Valley Medical.   Renton Police Public Information Officer Cyndie Morris provided an update on Facebook to clear up confusion.  Here is her summary:

Here are some details:
At 4:23 pm, officers were dispatched to an illegal discharge at Stonebrook Apts 12210 SE Petrovitsky Rd). Multiple callers reporting shots heard with multiple subjects running throughout the complex. Two adult black males (both in their early 20’s) responded to Valley Medical Center with non-life threatening gunshot wounds to their legs (one wound a piece). Victims told officers they were simply standing outside in the complex when somebody ran up on them on foot and shot at them. Suspect was said to then have jumped into a vehicle and fled the scene. Victim advised they don’t know who shot them or why somebody would want to shoot them. No direct witnesses onscene were able to provide any additional information regarding what happened or who was involved. Victims declined to speak to officers any further about what occurred.

There was no arrest made in the above incident, BUT:
As officers were at Valley Medical to interview victims/witnesses, they observed a known wanted juvenile suspect arrive with one of the victim’s. When officers challenged him, he fled on foot. Due to the seriousness of the juvenile’s outstanding warrant, officers pursued after him on foot, requesting assistance from Kent PD K9 and Guardian. Guardian was able to pinpoint the juvenile suspect’s location and officers arrested him without further incident.

Auburn Police have reported that four people were shot, a teen girl and three men, when a fight broke out at an illegal street race in Auburn early yesterday morning.   Thankfully they all survived and are in stable condition in the hospital.  These races have become more and more dangerous through the decades, and the possibility of violence at these events has been increasing.

The governor is poised to sign Senate Bill 5606, a new law that the legislature devised to crack down on these illegal street races. But the legislature’s failure on the pursuit law will make the street racing law virtually unenforceable.  The new street racing law makes driving recklessly in a street race a more serious offense with higher penalties, and allows police to impound cars for this reckless behavior. This would be a deterrent, except that under the police pursuit law, a car being driven recklessly can’t be pursued by police.   Common sense says it’s unlikely that someone engaging in a street race would willingly pull over and hand over their car keys to a police officer that is not pursuing them and is forbidden to do so.  We battled street racing for most of my 28 years on Renton City Council after local young people were killed in some of these races.  The drivers were very skilled at eluding police even before the police were told not to chase them.  The legislature should fix the law to allow for pursuit of reckless drivers if they want this street racing law to actually mean something.

The text of the new bill can be found here.