SEATTLE — Five people were shot at a street race early Sunday in Kent, police said.
Gunshots rang out near South 180th Street and East Valley Highway around 1:17 a.m., Assistant Police Chief Jarod Kasner of the Kent Police Department said.
A large crowd had gathered.
Officers found five people from surrounding cities who had been shot, Kasner said. All five were taken to hospitals. No information about their conditions was immediately available.
Renton officers also responded after they received a call about the shooting from a person across city lines, said Renton police Detective Robert Onishi.
Police are not releasing further details about the shooting, citing the investigation. They have not announced any arrests.
The shooting came less than a month after a similar incident in Auburn, in which four people were shot and seriously injured during a street race.
Kent, Renton and the Auburn area have for years been home to street racing events that draw large crowds, said Chris Krystofiak, secretary with the Renton Firefighters Union IAFF Local 864.
But, he said: “This is probably the most violent we’ve ever seen these types of events get.”
The union shared a video on Twitter that shows firefighters driving through a street crowded with racers and onlookers Friday night after responding to a car wreck nearby.
“The problem with large crowds like that is just unpredictability,” Krystofiak said. “You can go from a very safe scene to a very not safe scene in just a moment’s notice.”
Gov. Jay Inslee on May 4 signed into law a bill aimed at deterring illegal street racing, which is considered reckless driving and will remain a gross misdemeanor.
Senate Bill 5606, which had strong bipartisan support, expands an existing law to include racing and drifting on parking lots and other “off-street facilities” as illegal activity. The existing law only criminalized racing on public highways.
When it takes effect next Jan. 1, the law will allow prosecutors to charge people aiding racers as accomplices, and ensures that people can be charged in other incidents resulting from street racing.
The law also outlines procedures allowing officers to impound at their discretion the cars of racers who are arrested and remain in custody.
A car used for illegal racing can be permanently seized under the new law if the car has been previously impounded and the driver is convicted of reckless driving or a comparable charge.
