Shooting unnerves South Park weeks after stabbing

SEATTLE - A midnight shooting in South Park only weeks after a deadly stabbing has left residents there nervous and worried about their safety.

Police and witnesses say a teenager was injured when gunshots were fired from a white SUV at a group of friends walking down a South Park street early Sunday.

The 18-year-old South Park shooting victim is shown. His mother asked that his name not be released.

The teen, who was well-known around the neighborhood for helping neighbors with odd jobs and yard work, was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a gunshot wound to the lower back and internal bleeding.

Police said the injuries are not life-threatening. But the violence comes just three weeks after two local women were repeatedly stabbed in their home, leaving one dead. And that has some residents unnerved and frightened.

"It's like being hypervigilant all the time," said Maureen Carroll, who lives near the scene of the midnight shooting and said she heard three or four gunshots. "It's like living on too much adrenaline. Just being too vigilant, too worried."

The incident began just after midnight Sunday when police received a call about shots fired near the 1000 block of South Sullivan Street.

Witnesses say the teen victim was walking with a group of friends who had just left a neighborhood store.

After the shooting, the victim ran with two of his friends to the home of another friend, who called 911.

"All three of them come in, he falls to the ground and yells that he was shot," said the friend, Benito, who asked that his last name not be used.

Officers were given a description of the white SUV, and it was spotted about 10 minutes later heading down Interstate 5.

The vehicle was stopped and two suspects in the vehicle were arrested - an adult and a juvenile. At least one gun was also found in the vehicle.

Detectives from the Seattle Police Department's Gang Unit are investigating and trying to determine whether the victim and shooter knew each other. But neighbors say the victim was not a gang member.

"He is a good kid in our neighborhood," Benito said. "He goes around cutting people's yards and stuff like that. He's not a bad kid at all. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

He said the neighborhood feels police should step up patrols and offer some activities for youth in the area.

"It just seems like it's a never-ending thing ... cause all these kids are just going around, just crazy with each other," he said.