SEATTLE — A Seattle gas station clerk was arrested early Monday morning after police said he shot at a customer’s car.
The incident happened about 1:46 a.m. at a Shell gas station in the 500 block of South Dearborn Street in the Chinatown-International District, according to Seattle Police Department Det. Eric Munoz.
A person bought some ice from a walk-up window at the gas station. There was a dispute over the container in which the ice was given. The clerk, a 21-year-old Issaquah man, locked the doors, reopened them and argued with the customer. The customer lifted his coat and then let go of it before returning to his car and driving away, according to Seattle police.
The clerk ran after him and allegedly fired his pistol toward the vehicle. The car did a U-turn and went westbound on South Dearborn Street to get away from the clerk, according to police.
“At the time (the clerk) chased after vehicle and discharged his firearm, the vehicle and driver were not an active threat to (him),” the police report reads.
Nearby officers who were responding to a separate incident saw the shots fired and called out the incident.
The clerk was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault, aiming or discharging firearms, dangerous weapons and second-degree malicious mischief. He was booked into the King County Jail.
Police recovered a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun from the clerk. Shell casings were also recovered at the scene and taken into evidence.
The window of a nearby business was hit by a bullet and damaged. Damages are estimated to cost $1,000, according to Seattle police.