BURIEN, Wash. — An elderly woman was shot and killed at a home in Burien overnight, the King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) confirmed to KING 5.
KCSO said deputies responded to a home in the 1000 block of South 130th Place for reports of a shooting just after 12:15 a.m. An 80-year-old woman was shot and killed while she was sleeping.
Police said multiple rounds of gunfire pierced the home.
There were two reported murders in Burien in 2022, according to the Annual Crime in Washington Report. That number increased to six in 2023. The Burien Police Department did not provide data for 2024 but said they are doing everything they can to keep people safe.
“Burien has invested in a crime reduction team and plus, not only the officers that are assigned to the city of Burien but the officers that are in or around Burien that work our metro-transit division, our unincorporated areas, they funnel in and out of Burien so they receive a high level of police services that other areas may not," said Cory Stanton, Burien Police Department captain.
The suspects in Wednesday morning's shooting are still on the loose.
“This is an unusual incident but I understand it doesn’t make it any less scary but we are out there every day two in the morning, two in the afternoon patrolling the streets and we are going to bring those perpetrators to justice," Stanton said.
This violent crime came at a time when the city was searching for a new police chief. Hours after the shooting, the city announced that Tom Calabrese would take over as police chief on Saturday.