By Scott Schaefer

A huge police turnout on and around SR 509 near where south Burien meets the SeaTac City limits was in response to an ‘active shooter’ who shot and hit four vehicles on the freeway Wednesday afternoon, June 13.

The Washington State Patrol said that shots were fired on the freeway around 1:30 p.m., and that four vehicles traveling southbound were hit by a shooter who may have been hiding in the trees.

Despite some dramatic damage to vehicles – including one large bullet hole in a driver’s side window – there were no injuries.

SR 509 was closed or very restricted most of the afternoon, and motorists were advised to stay away from the area.
Troopers and police spent several hours searching for the shooter, and were asking anyone nearby to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity.
AIRPORT RUNWAY CLOSED FOR 3 HOURS
Washington State Patrol asked the FAA to close the westernmost runway (16R/34L) nearest the incident area out of an abundance of caution. It was closed from 3:05 – 6:25 p.m.
“There were no major impacts to operations as that is a slower period of the day for operations,” Perry Cooper, Sr. Manager, Media Relations told The B-Town Blog. “Air Traffic Control did have a couple of brief ground stops for inbound aircraft at their origination cities. Each lasted only about ten minutes. There could have been some specific arrival delays from those, but, again, nothing major airport-wide. If the incident had extended further into the evening, that would have had more impacts on the busy arrival period during the evening. Fortunately, it didn’t extend out that far.”
NO SUSPECT FOUND
Despite the huge police response and search, no shooting suspect(s) has yet been found.
WSP announced that it completed its investigation at 8:37 p.m. and that all lanes of the freeway were re-opened.


VIDEO OF SEARCH
Here’s video released by @KCSOAirsupport showing some scenes from the intense search east of SR 509 near S. 168th Street on some abandoned roads near the airport, looking like a scene straight out of a war film with fully-armed police, K-9 units and even a drone scouring the landscape:


Burien resident Jennifer Fichamba sent us this photo – which she took from her bedroom window – showing an armed police sniper laying on top of an SUV on SR 509 aiming a long rifle during the intense search:

Side streets were also heavily affected as traffic was re-routed off the freeway.
VIDEO OF HUGE RESPONSE
One witness who drove through the area on S. 188th Street near Des Moines Memorial Drive in SeaTac told The B-Town Blog that he saw numerous heavily-armed Troopers and police with high-powered rifles on the scene:


Here’s a short statement from Trooper Rick Johnson courtesy KING-5:


UPDATE 6:30 p.m.: SWAT and aircraft have completed the search for the shooter, and Troopers are going to move onto SR 509 to search for evidence around the roadway:


UPDATE 5:35 p.m.: Homeland Protective Services has joined the ongoing search, along with K-9, SWAT and the Guardian One helicopter overhead:


UPDATE 4:33 p.m.: A SWAT team from Renton has been brought in to join the search, along with the King County Sheriff’s Office Guardian One helicopter.
UPDATE 4:09 p.m.: This is still a fluid, active situation – Troopers said that additional shots had been fired, but now aren’t quite sure. Law enforcement agencies are still searching the area.


Highline Public Schools sent out the following email alert at 3:23 p.m.:

Dear Families,

Due to an incident on Highway 509 this afternoon buses may be delayed. Students are safe.

Thank you.

Police set up a Command Post on S. 188th Street near Des Moines Memorial Drive.

NOTE: This is a developing story and we are updating this page live as we receive more details; to see the latest news please refresh this page.


Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.