Renton man shot dead during his own birthday party
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SKYWAY, Wash. - A Renton man was shot dead during his own birthday party early Sunday, and now police are looking for a motive and a suspect.
Deputies responded to the scene, in the 5600 block of South Langston Road in Skyway, at about 1:35 a.m. after receiving a report of shots fired, said Sgt. Katie Larson of the King County Sheriff's Office.
When deputies arrive, they discovered the victim sitting in a car with one or more gunshot wounds. They began first aid and continued until medics arrived, but the lifesaving efforts were not successful and the victim was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told investigators that the victim, a Renton man in his early 20s, had been celebrating his birthday with a few friends at a nearby residence.
At some point, he went outside to charge his cell phone in a friend's car. Then his friends inside the house heard shots fired outside.
"I heard the shots so I came back outside," says one friend, Chundy Sarey. "Only thing I can think of - I was just talking to him. ... It's still sinking tinto me."
Other neighbors say they didn't see much - but they heard it. One area resident said he heard about 10 shots fired.
The neighbors say working street lights in the area are few and far between - making it easier for someone to get away without being spotted.
King County sheriff's investigators still have not identified a suspect or a motive for the deadly shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to call the King County Sheriff's Office or 911.
Deputies responded to the scene, in the 5600 block of South Langston Road in Skyway, at about 1:35 a.m. after receiving a report of shots fired, said Sgt. Katie Larson of the King County Sheriff's Office.
When deputies arrive, they discovered the victim sitting in a car with one or more gunshot wounds. They began first aid and continued until medics arrived, but the lifesaving efforts were not successful and the victim was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told investigators that the victim, a Renton man in his early 20s, had been celebrating his birthday with a few friends at a nearby residence.
At some point, he went outside to charge his cell phone in a friend's car. Then his friends inside the house heard shots fired outside.
"I heard the shots so I came back outside," says one friend, Chundy Sarey. "Only thing I can think of - I was just talking to him. ... It's still sinking tinto me."
Other neighbors say they didn't see much - but they heard it. One area resident said he heard about 10 shots fired.
The neighbors say working street lights in the area are few and far between - making it easier for someone to get away without being spotted.
King County sheriff's investigators still have not identified a suspect or a motive for the deadly shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to call the King County Sheriff's Office or 911.
Some of you think you're detectives. No one cares what you guys think and this doesn't just happen in "the ghetto". It happens in a lot of places. Stop being so ignorant.
KOMO, here is the first one I noticed... "... It's still sinking tinto me."Â Soooooo, I still want that editor's job, just email!
....Sounds Gang related to me... Was he the intended target or perhaps they thought this guy was the owner of the car the victim was using and meant to go for him instead? Regardless cowards who use guns to solve their problems need a serious lesson on the buisness end of what they inflicted!
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Komo I do not understand... was its a friends car or his car? ... plus if it was his car why would he not use an outlit in the house to charge it? Sounds more like a drug dealer servicing the wrong customers... sorry to stereo type but the guy interviewed looks like they might run with that gang sort of crowd to me. ... also Skyway is not renton, maybe nearby yes but call it what it is... Skyway....
@Freespeech I agree, Skyway is NOT Renton... whole different attitude there.
This is so tragic. The young man was just starting his adult life - just horrific that someone chose to end it.Â
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Hope they catch the coward who shot him and soon - evidently someone who thinks they can play "God" because they have a gun.
Let's see, this must be a Politically Correct Police purged KOMO news story since when does a person get shot possibly several times for charging a cell phone while sitting in a friends car???? I would say drug or gang related incident
his friend is sure wearing alot of red... ill bet my last dollar this had gang ties...
The thousands killed by gun shots every year in the US represent the best example of a society with a gun disease. Regardless of the number of murders the gun addiction shown by ALL NRA MEMBERS who will continue to defend the right to own guns. Soon, they will invent the need for teenagers to carry guns also. A SICK SOCIETY, INDEED!
 @Socialjusticeforall So how do you explain the facts that clearly show with an increase in gun sale comes a decrease in crime and that includes violent crime. This has been a steady trend since 1990 and beyond. http://www.statisticbrain.com/u-s-crime-statistics/ Last year was no exception, gun sales up and violent crime down 4%. These are FBI stats not the NRA
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Gang-bangers are the real disease. They are responsible for 50 to 90% of the problem. Their membership continues to grow and with cuts to law enforcement and immigration issues this will certainly get worse. Lets go after the real disease and leave our constitution alone.Â
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I am not a NRA member and I don't need to be one to believe in freedom.
Would these be the same thugs responsible for the dead guy in the flaming mini-Cooper found nearby a few weeks ago? Probably! Is Skyway getting sick of the Sound End Gangsters yet or do all of you in that neighborhood like living in fear? Some of you there know who these murderers are. Deal with it!
There were choppers flying over Twin Lakes area in Federal Way, sirens, K-9 units and everything around 3am last night. I wonder if this was connected to the search efforts. I can't find out any information about it anywhere.
If you are at your own home why would you need to use some one else's car to charge your phone?
 @Amandab It doesn't say he was at his own home, just that he was at his own birthday party.
A "motive" is required for murder in Skyway? News to me!
Gang banging, the ghetto, drive by, safer in Detroit and drug deal gone bad are some of the reasons that this guy is no longer with us. Lot of assuming going on here.
We should start a pool. I say it was "a dispute".
Early 20's - 1:35 am - Skyway. Â All you need to know.Â
Check out the last call on that cell phone?
Seattle and it's surrounding = one big crime scene. Gland I got out when I did.
Another Puget Sound murder!
In the Ghetto! Thank you, thank you very much! Another day in the hood. It's time to get tough on criminals in this state. Those guilty of murder should face execution via firing squad. Swift justice.Â
I think it's time Skyway changes its name to Hellway. Sure looks more like hell than the sky.
What is this world coming to?
Skyway/Rainier Beach. No difference.
 @Klondiko Right, because it's the only place bad things happen.(wtf?)
@janthewordnerd No, its not the ONLY place bad things happen... but I'd be willing to bet the crime is much higher there then in MY part of Renton. (My part is anywhere other than Skyway.)
 @Klondiko I agree. Wish they wouldn't call Skyway, Renton.
 @Alexa They did not call Skyway Renton, they said a "Renton Man" in Skyway. So I guess if you live in Renton, maybe you could keep your trash at the bottom of the hill, as the area this happened in is actually a pretty decent neighborhood.Â
 @jinkiesshaggy! I have lived in Skyway, it's far from being decent. Reminds me of a giant festering sh!thole!
Scary and very sad reality that this is happening in all areas of Western WA. This used to be the type of story that we would hear about occasionally, but usually ONLY in the bad areas of town. Yes Skyway is one of those areas but my point is this happens everywhere now.
 @My opinion is Yes the gangs are spreading out.
I think I'd feel safer living in Detroit these days.Â
Everyone is trained seasoned police detective in here LOL
My money is on a "girl or drugs"Â maybe both who knows.Â
Think this will go down as gang-banging, drive-by shooting, drug deal gone bad, jealous ex-boyfriend or such. With apparent multiple gunshot wounds, you can bet the shooter is not a fine upstanding member of the community. I'll bet convicted criminal and it could be the victim may not be much better.
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But KOMO does need to get some updates and either edit the story or publish a new story once the information becomes available.
I'm just wondering if they teach reporters to ask questions in journalism school now days? Any sign of struggle? Any confrontation at the party? Any theft? Any witnesses?
@Magic 8 Ball Reporters don't ask questions for several reasons. First of all it is work. They then have to take the information garnered from the questions and actually write a story. Editors frown on this because the editor then actually has to do their job by reading and possibly re-writing the story. The network doesn't like it because the story may not be politically correct (even though it would provide truthful information), they do not want to incite a community relations nightmare. Finally, the public isn't interested. If they were they would hold the networks collective feet to the fire to provide accurate and truthful information in a timely manner. A reporter could have gotten most of the details from a crime report from the police department...
@hi61izq Unfortunately 100% accurate.
 @Magic 8 Ball I am totally with you. There is never any follow up on stories (like what was the outcome for the two guys who jumped off the elevated portion of I-5 during a police chase) and as for actual investigative journalism...forget it.Â
 @Magic 8 Ball Being published at 08:29, I doubt there was much more than a press release and/or a prerecorded statement. Â
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What passes for "journalism" today would have Perry White spinning in his grave. Â 99% of what is published online is just a regurgitation of whatever was handed/emailed to the news desk and then copy/pasted in to the website.
I'm sure if the assailants did not have a gun they would have found another way to kill this guy. Â Probably a sword or knife. Â Or maybe they would have made a small bomb or poisoned him.
 @cyclops Josh Powell didn't have a gun.  He took a hatchet to his kids and blew up the house with gasoline.  He found a way without a gun. Â
 @keri555 Oh yes..I read everyday about people hacking up people with hatchets and setting their house on fire.  I rarely hear a story about someone using a gun to kill someone.  Oh wait i got that wrong. I read 3 or 4 stories PER DAY about gun deaths.  Thanks for exhibiting the height of cluelessness.
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@cyclops So I guess you'd agree that the 1st admnt doesn't cover Internet, TV, and mobile communications?
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 @2nd Baseman Anyone who thinks guidelines they made 200 some years ago are still valid today are complete morons.
 @keri555 Mentally ill should not have firearms, we have laws against it , but is very hard to determine who is mentally ill. Do we have a regular gun nut or a dangerous one? Very few really go over board.
Then there are the felons. No felon should ever have a firearm. All juvenile crimes should count, and that includes car theft, the first time. If a felon is found to have a firearm that person should have a mandatory sentence of five years, with no reduction of time. There should be no pleas for felon in possession.
 @2nd Baseman So what people should not have guns? Shall we make them use a bows and arrows?Â
 @2nd Baseman My point was our society has turned pretty violent in nature.  Guns do kill people if the people use them to kill people but if used responsibly and properly they can save lives as well.  People who think guns are the problem are only looking at the fact someone was shot.  There is a bigger issue and I agree that the justice system has some serious flaws and contributes to not takes away from the problem. Â
 @cyclops Gun violence is a serious issue and to many emergency room doctors a public health crisis.. The NRA is not going to get away with trying to belittle it. It is a F of a lot easier to kill another person with a gun than with anything else as guns were designed for killing things in the quickest and most impersonal manner we as a species can come up with for non military members of society. The issue is access to guns and the fact that a significant portion of the guns in the hands of criminals were stolen from legal owners. So the NRA mantras, which go back decades upon decades, don't bring anything to the table in regard to a viable discussion on the subject. Â
 @Citizen#3457899654 The anti-gun mantra of less guns equals less crime has is baseless and been proven false for decade upon decade. Gun sales has risen steadily for decades yet crime continues to decrease, down 4% last year.
@Citizen#3457899654 @cyclops There oughta be a law I tells ya.
 @Citizen#3457899654 Really?  If a person really wants a gun, they are going to get it.  They will either buy it legally or obtain it illegally regardless of any regulations you put in place.  I happen to think that it is a public health crisis as well, but blame society not the NRA.  You've got violent video games, violent movies, no parents at home, access to anything on the internet, no gun safety classes in school, drugs and the media who keeps glorifying these shootings on TV.  There are a lot of stressors in society today and people don't seem to value life as much as they used to.  That really has nothing to do with guns, it has to do with people.  This article really didn't tell anyone to much but I bet the shooting was not random.  The victim (god rest his soul) most likely had an idea someone had it out for him.  I do not let my children (3 boys) play violent video games, and we do not have cable.  A gun is an weapon that can save your life and protect your family and what you hold dear.  Parents who are thugs will raise more thugs.
 @Citizen#3457899654  Umm, just a thought here -- since something like 80% of crime is committed by repeat offenders, wouldn't it be easier to actually keep criminals in prison rather than outlaw the 99.9% of guns that are never used in any crime??
 @Kramula No it would be easier to just off the repeat offenders.
 @Kramula Makes perfect sense--existing criminals (people without the existing right to possess a firearm) commit the vast majority of homicides with a firearm so disarm the people who do not commit these crimes.
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Only to a leftist cretin would that formulation make sense.
@cyclops Ahh, the old argument of "let's take away guns from law abiding citizens so criminals like this won't have access to them". For anybody who believes gun laws would be obeyed by criminals, I have some oceanfront property in Denver to sell you.
 @eichler34  @cyclops Of course criminals will obey new gun law. They obey the current ones, don't they?
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And, as an added benefit for utopians like cyclops, just think of all the people who no longer have a firearm to defend themselves from crime. Lots of new injuries and homicides--yay!
 @LockesChild Analogy a little too deep for you to understand?
 @cyclops Since that, like getting rid of all firearms, is utterly impossible you have proved my point.
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Thanks!
@cyclops @LockesChild Your argument doesn't work. Guns don't have brains, wings, or biological cells.
 @LockesChild If we get rid of all the mosquitos no one would get a mosquito bite.
 Ahh, the old argument that if they don't have a gun they will just find another way to murder.@eichler34