SEATTLE — A brief roadway encounter between a driver and an electric-scooter rider Saturday on Seattle’s Capitol Hill quickly escalated into gunfire that killed the driver and injured his young nephew, according to Seattle police.
A King County judge on Monday found probable cause to hold a 35-year-old Seattle man in jail on investigation of murder and felony assault in connection with the shooting, said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Family members have identified Elijah Lewis, a 23-year-old entrepreneur and community activist, as the man who was killed.
The Seattle Times is not naming the shooting suspect because he has not been criminally charged. His bail was set at $2 million. Prosecutors expect the police case will be referred to them this week for a charging decision.
Lewis was driving east on East Pine Street with his 9-year-old nephew about 5 p.m. when he overtook a man riding a scooter, then tried to turn right onto Broadway, says the probable cause statement outlining the police case against the scooter rider.
“There was some type of interaction between the scooter and the vehicle,” according to a brief statement written by a Seattle police officer. “The window was rolled down (and) words were exchanged between the two parties.”
The man on the scooter pulled out a handgun and shot three times into Lewis’ Toyota Camry, hitting the front passenger-side door and two windows, the probable cause statement says. Two witnesses told police the man fired into the Camry as the car was moving away from him.
One of the bullets struck Lewis in the chest and another hit his nephew in the calf, the statement says. Lewis continued driving south on Broadway, then made two right turns, first onto East Pike Street, then onto Harvard Avenue, where he crashed into a parked car, according to police.
Officers began lifesaving measures on Lewis, who was unresponsive and died soon after arriving at Harborview Medical Center. His nephew was also taken to the hospital and required stitches, the statement says.
The boy was discharged Sunday, a hospital spokesperson said. Lewis was taking him to a monster truck rally at Lumen Field to celebrate his birthday when they were shot, Lewis’ brother, Mario Dunham, told The Seattle Times.
The scooter rider was arrested near the shooting scene. He does not have any prior criminal convictions in King County, court records show.
Lewis was remembered as an entrepreneur and activist who was heavily involved with Africatown Community Land Trust, an organization focused on preserving the city’s Black community. A graduate of Rainier Beach High School, Lewis did community outreach with Black vendors, artists, poets and singers for events in the Central District and Rainier Valley, Dunham said. Lewis also owned a cleaning business and a financial group and was involved in several community groups and activist movements, his brother said.
Shared electric scooters were first introduced in Seattle in fall 2020, and seated scooters were later added to the city’s fleet. More than 1.4 million trips were taken by 260,000 riders during a pilot program between September 2020 and October 2021, with 5,000 of the colorful devices dispatched citywide, according to a 2022 Seattle Department of Transportation report.
SDOT examined police reports and found 17 collisions during that time, the majority of which occurred between scooters and vehicles. Five of those cases resulted in “serious” injuries. One was fatal.
Three companies — Bird, Line and LINK — now deploy shared scooters in the city. The scooters are allowed on roads and bike lanes and have been touted as low-carbon alternatives to cars.
