Fire Dept.: 8 injured in shooting in Seattle area

By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press
5:47 p.m., July 23, 2011

SEATTLE — People screamed and ran as eight people were injured in a shooting Saturday at a crowded suburban Seattle parking lot, authorities and witnesses said.

The gunfire broke out at a low-rider car show at La Plaza shopping center on Pacific Highway in Kent, and victims were taken to the hospital, said Kent Fire Department Lt. Pat Pawlak.

Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said eight people - six men and two women - were admitted to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

"They're all in satisfactory condition," she said. "All conscious and talking."

She said ages of the wounded ranged from 14 to 32. The victims, she said, were hit on a foot, leg and chest, among other places.

There were no reported fatalities. KOMO News reports no one has been arrested.

Kent police Sgt. Jarod Kasner told KOMO News that the shootings may have been gang-related, and that the gang unit has been called on the scene.

Adriana Velazco, a manager at a Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant in the shopping center, said she saw two people on the ground after the shooting. She said that she didn't hear the gunshots but was told by an off-duty police officer dining at the restaurant to hide in the back of the restaurant along with patrons.

"We saw people running all over the place," Velazco said. "People were knocking on the door of restaurant but we weren't allowed to open the door."

The car show, listed as La Raza low-rider car show on a Latino events website, was in the parking lot of the shopping center, which is located along the busy Pacific Highway. Kent is about 20 miles south of Seattle. The city is a mix of suburban developments and older industrial centers.

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