A suspect was taken into was in custody early Tuesday in connection with multiple freeway shootings in the Seattle area that injured four and targeted as many as seven vehicles Monday night, authorities said.
Washington State Patrol officials said two people remained hospitalized in critical condition, and another two — including a person with a graze wound and another with leg injuries — were treated at medical facilities and released.
Another victim who sustained abrasions from broken glass did not need treatment, the agency said in a press release.
One of the two victims in critical condition was a passenger struck multiple times in the night’s first shooting just before 8:30 p.m. Monday on Interstate 5 south of Seattle, the state patrol said.
The other was struck in the neck in an attack that was reported just after 11 p.m. on the interstate in Pierce County, also south of Seattle, it said.
After news of the attacks spread, an additional victim came forward with a report of a shooting that resulted in no injuries as they were traveling on a street that crosses Interstate 5 in Federal Way, Washington, south of Seattle, en route to Portland, Oregon, the state patrol said.
Three of the shootings happened around 8:30 p.m. or after, followed by a second round of at least three attacks around the 11 p.m. hour, according to the Washington State Patrol statement.
All were reported on Interstate 5, the state patrol said, except for the seventh possible attack yet to be confirmed as part of the spree, it said.
Authorities said it’s possible there are more victims who didn’t realize their vehicle had been struck Monday night. Washington State Patrol spokesperson Christ Loftis said at the news conference that the agency hopes anyone who might have been targeted, as well as witnesses to the shootings, will come forward.
The freeway runs from the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canada border and is a vital thoroughfare for the largest cities on the U.S. West Coast.
Four of the victims or companions said the attacker was in a white Volvo or other make of white vehicle, the state patrol said in the statement. That information helped troopers find a suspect, who was taken into custody after a short pursuit in Fircrest, Washington, a Tacoma-area community about 35 miles south of Seattle, the agency said.
The suspect was booked into the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle on suspicion of first-degree assault, state patrol Capt. Ron Mead said at a news conference Tuesday.
Mead said the agency would not release the suspect’s name in an effort to avoid giving the person publicity. The motive was unknown, officials said.
The captain lamented how common freeway shootings have become. Loftis said that there have been 37 confirmed so far this year in King County, which underlies Seattle.
“These were just innocent people trying to get from point A to point B,” Mead said of Monday’s victims. “People shouldn’t fear driving on the interstate.”
