AUBURN, Wash. — Three people were injured in a shooting in Auburn early Tuesday morning.
According to the Auburn Police Department, officers responded to a report of shots fired around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday on the 2400 block of N Street Northeast, which is a cul-de-sac just east of Cascade Middle School.
Police said the shooting began as a dispute in the neighborhood. All three of the people hurt in the shooting have non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to be OK.
KING 5 crews on the scene said a crime scene unit arrived at the shooting location just before 5 a.m.
A spokesperson for the Auburn Police Department said authorities are still searching for a suspect. No suspect description has been released at this time.
One of the bullets shot went into the home of Dennis. It pierced through glass, a plywood door and ended up in the pocket of a winter coat.
"It's scary because you have people out here who don't know where these go," he said.
The shots were fired not far from Cascade Middle School.
Tuesday’s shooting is at least the third triple shooting Auburn police are investigating since July 29.
Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus and Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell spoke out after the shooting, reinterring claims made in an open letter published less than a week ago asking for help in reducing crime.
"Our officers are not able to do the jobs that they were hired to do and they're either leaving the procession all together or their going to a state where they feel that they are more supported in law enforcement roles," Ferrell said.
Last week, the eight mayors in south King County signed an open letter asking for help to reduce crime and violence. The mayors of Auburn, Black Diamond, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Kent, Pacific, Renton and Tukwila pleaded for help from King County and the state as the cities see a "disturbing" rise in crime.
Four of the mayors who signed the public plea told KING 5 it was important for them to band together for people who live in various cities in south King County.
"Nobody knows where one city begins and another ends. Nobody cares. They just want to feel safe," Backus said on August 4.
According to the letter, the rise in crime coincides with several events, including the passage of Senate Bill 5476, which prevents cities and counties from charging someone with drug possession in certain cases. The passage of House Bill 1054, which prevents police officers from conducting vehicle pursuits in certain circumstances, is also a factor, according to the letter.
Along with citing an "influx" in methamphetamine and fentanyl, the letter criticizes the justice system, "in which it takes many months, if not years, for criminal charges to be filed, resolved, or tried."
There is also a need "for improved and timely juvenile and adult felony criminal accountability at the county level," the letter states.
Though the concerned city leaders have had meetings with King County and state legislators to help solve the issues, the "consequences of the challenges to our system are real and immediate," the letter states.
The letter asked the county and state to take action to address the toll increased crime is taking on the communities.
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