Shots Fired, Collision, Perps Caught at 19th & Jackson-Updated

Today at about 5:15pm, East Precinct officers were involved in an incident that included shots fired, a collision, and a foot pursuit along Jackson Street.

It all began when a two-officer team was investigating a suspicious vehicle with stolen plates in the parking lot of the 7-Stars Mini-Mart on the southwest corner of 20th S. & S. Jackson. There was an altercation between the officers and the car's occupants, and one or more shots were fired by an officer. It is not clear if any of the shots struck the suspects or their vehicle. The suspects then drove away in the white 4-door Lexus, headed westbound on Jackson.

Other police units were already responding to the scene when the suspects drove away, and one of those encountered the vehicle in the 1800 block of S. Jackson, causing the suspects to bail out of the vehicle and leaving it to roll down the hill, striking that second police car. An officer in that car suffered minor injuries in the collision, but was not taken to the hospital.

The three four suspects were pursued and three were successfully caught by police. One was caught several blocks away in the 1800 block of S. Lane, where a neighbor told me that he heard the suspect screaming in pain before he was taken away by police. One suspect is still at large.

SPD spokesman Jeff Kappel said that one suspect suffered a non-life-threatening injury to a hand in the incident and was transported to Harborview for further treatment. Although scanner traffic indicated that one suspect was shot in the hand, the nature or cause of that specific injury could not be confirmed by police. [update: police are now saying that that suspect's hand injury was likely a bullet wound]

A loaded handgun was recovered near where the suspect vehicle collided with police in the 1800 block of S. Jackson. Police say it was dropped by one of the suspects as he exited the vehicle.

Jackson street was shut down in all directions for almost three hours while police investigated the crime scene.

Detective Kappel's briefing is included as a video clip above. More details should be available later tonight - we'll update this as we learn more.

Update - New details from an SPD press release:

The car was originally occupied by four suspects, and the fourth one is is still at large. Our update at 6:10pm described him as a light-skinned black male, 5'5", stocky build, light shirt, dark pants.

The reason for the original investigation of the vehicle was because the plates didn't match the vehicle description. This is a common occurrence on stolen vehicles - plates are swiped from another car and placed on the hot vehicle to keep it from being immediately identified as stolen.

The vehicle's occupants were uncooperative when police approached, and the driver allegedly tried to run over one of the officers as they drove off, resulting in an officer firing multiple rounds at the driver. Police now say that the suspect with the injured hand was the result of a gunshot wound.

The officer involved in the shooting is on paid leave while the investigation continues, a common step whenever an officer is involved in a shooting.

Here's our original breaking-news report:

Jackson Street is shut down in both directions with a large police response to a shots fired incident.

Medics are on the scene too, but it's not immediately clear if there's any injuries.

A white Lexus is parked in the middle of the street with front end damage.

A man in the crowd says that his cousin was at the store at 20th and Jackson, when police tased them, chased them, and then shot at the car.

More as we get it.

From the radio: 5:20PM An officer was heard yelling "Shots fired, 20th and Jackson". Multiple officers were then involved in a foot pursuit with three black juveniles resulting with one officer apprehending two suspects at 19th and Jackson. The third suspect, with a gunshot wound to the hand, was apprehended several minutes later in the 1800 block of S Lane. There was some confusion locating all of the officers involved, but all were accounted with no major injuries. A firearm was located at 19th and Jackson.