By Matt Wendland

A busy evening in Olde Burien was interrupted Friday, Oct. 4, when three local teenagers allegedly attacked patrons in front of a local eatery and bar with skateboards, sending three between the ages of 46 and 66 to a local hospital.

According to Detective Stanley of King County Sheriff's Department, at just before 8pm on Friday evening, an argument broke out between a group of teens passing through Olde Burien and two customers in front of Mark Restaurant.

The argument is thought to have started after the 46-year-old female victim made comment to one of the teens about an event earlier in the evening where the teens were seen damaging or possibly vandalizing a vehicle in the area.

Speculating the she was under the influence of heavy drugs, witnesses claimed that a 16-year-old girl in the group started yelling at the woman, describing her statements as "erratic" and "nothing more than random words and sounds". When the woman attempted to calm the girl down, the girl is said to have grabbed the woman's hair and hit her multiple times in the face.

At this point, a 53-year-old man who was a friend of the woman, is said to have attempted to separate the woman and teen. A 17-year-old male in the group of teens then attacked the 53-year-old man. He is said to have hit the man four times in the face before the man again attempted to separate the woman and girl who were still fighting. The 17-year-old then put the man in a headlock and continued to hit him. The victim reported to police that it was at this point that someone, presumably the third teen, a 16-year-old male, hit the man in the back of the head with a skateboard.

A 66-year-old man inside the bar came out to try to stop the fight and was immediately hit in the face with a skateboard by the 16-year-old male.

A number of Mark Restaurant staff members then chased the teens north out of Olde Burien into the alley between SW 152nd Street and S.W. 151st Street where they tackled one of the teens while the others entered a house.

Witnesses reported that the teens then emerged from the home with a number of other youth and one adult claiming that they were armed with a gun. Burien Police then arrived on the scene with weapons drawn. The youth immediately surrendered. Police searched the teens and found that they were armed with a knife and club but no firearm.

The two teenage boys were booked into the Youth Services Center for assault while the 16-year-old girl was arrested but because of injuries sustained, not booked. She is expected to be charged once released from medical care.

The three victims were transported to Highline Medical Center. The 46-year-old woman sustained the least injuries. The two male victims both received stitches, one received 12 stitches above his right eye and the other received stitches below his left eye. Both were treated for other serious wounds that were not considered life threatening.

According to a witness familiar with the suspects and their families who asked to remain anonymous, the two male suspects have a history of anger issues and drug use.

"This is a terrible situation and there is no excuse for what they did to those people… I don't know what we are going to do but this is something that we need to deal with in this community. If you don't have a stable home, this can be a hard place to grow up and the schools are not what they used to be… If these kids don't have jobs or some program after school and don't have families waiting for them at home, what are we supposed to ask them to do? Instead, they get out of school, or even graduate, and have nothing to do. These two have been getting into heavy drugs and now, their early adult lives could be ruined and those victims were seriously injured. As a community, we need to address this issue before it gets worse… This isn't just their problem. This is all of our problems."