SEATAC, Wash. -- An 18-year-old man was gunned down in a hail of bullets late Wednesday night, and the shooter remains on the loose.

It was around 11:30 p.m. when a gunman in a car fired several shots at another car with five people inside as they drove south on Military Road South near the intersection of S. 140th, said Sgt. John Urquhart with the King County Sheriff's Department.

One person in the backseat was struck. The men drove straight to Highline Hospital, but the victim collapsed in the entrance of the emergency room and died.

Meanwhile, police were having difficulty locating where the shooting took place. Neighbors called 911 around 11:30 with generalized reports of hearing fireworks or gunshots.

About 10 minutes after the reports came in, Highline Hospital reported they had a gun shot victim.

"It's getting close to the Fourth of July, it's not uncommon for police to get fireworks complaints," said Sgt. D.B. Gates with the King County Sheriff's Department. "It's often difficult to tell the difference between fireworks and shots fired. It took a while for Tukwila (police) to locate that this was the scene once they knew they had a shooting."

A short time later, police were called to the intersection of 140th and Military after shooting evidence was found at the intersection. Daylight brought even more evidence of just how many shots were fired -- one home on the corner had a bullet hole in their fence.

The victim's friends are cooperating with detectives, but the gunman remains on the loose.

Urquhart says the victim was from California and was here visiting relatives. He says there's no apparent motive for the shooting and there's no description of the gunman's car.