By Tim Clifford

Thursday night, May 30, a 17-year-old car thief was shot in the head by a King County Sheriff’s Deputy after a short car pursuit ended in a SeaTac apartment complex. The teenager is currently in stable condition and is expected to survive his injuries while an investigation into the shooting is just beginning.
The incident began at 8:18 p.m. along S. 208 St. and International Blvd. when a KCSO deputy spotted a white 1996 Lexus that had been reported stolen out of Federal Way. After another deputy arrived to provide backup the officers pulled the vehicle over.

After pulling to the side the car sped off and a short car chase ensued. Eventually the deputies cornered the car into a dead end of an apartment complex on 208th. Placing their vehicles behind the suspect’s car both deputies exited their cars, a patrol car and an SUV, and ordered the suspect to get out.
At that point the teenager put the car in reverse and rammed the patrol car which pinned one deputy against the SUV. The other deputy, fearing for the life of his partner, fired two shots into the suspect’s car hitting the teen in the head.

Immediately both deputies rushed to the car and pulled the suspect out to try and administer first-aid. Medics from the Kent Fire Department arrived shortly after and transported the suspect to Harborview Medical Center. As of this writing the suspect is in stable condition.

Neither deputy was injured during the incident. The deputy who fired the shots is currently on administrative leave until the investigation is complete, which could take roughly a month. The identity of the deputies involved has not been released though according to the KCSO the deputy who fired the shots is 41-years-old and has been with the department for 11 years.

Initially tweets from the Sheriff’s department reported that the suspect had fired shots at the deputies. This was later corrected and the confusion apparently came from another incident that was occurring near the same apartment complex at that time, though no gun was involved in that either.

At the scene a small collective of neighbors gathered around the officers handling the scene and for a short time chanted “black lives matter” after seeing that the suspect was African American.