Investigators are looking for answers in multiple shootings across Seattle from over the weekend.
At least five people were hurt in shootings in the city from Friday evening to Monday morning.
Four of the victims are students at the University of Washington. They were shot following a fight outside a bar in the U-district in the early morning hours Sunday.
That shooting happened roughly 24 hours after another shooting in the U district where a person was killed by a vehicle believed to be fleeing the scene.
Early Monday morning, Seattle Police swarmed the intersection of 7th Ave NE and Denny Way after a report of shots fired. A law enforcement source tells KOMO news that officers recovered at least 50 shell casings from multiple different weapons.
"By my experience, it sounded like rifles. It sounded very loud," said Edgar Avilas, who is staying in the area with family on vacation. "I didn’t expect anything like this.”
Seattle Police indicated they had reports someone was shooting from a vehicle, but nobody was hit. A door of an apartment at 699 John Street appeared to be shattered from gunfire.
On Monday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell called the shootings a ‘wake-up call’.
“We don’t need more wake-up calls, these are wake-up calls that we have to invest in public safety. We have to have everyone safe – we have too many guns in the wrong hands,” Harrell told KOMO news. “Everyone should be concerned about it and certainly I am.”
Harrell said he has been briefed by Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz about the investigations into the different shootings.
“There’s some information he has shared with me that wouldn’t be good for public consumption, but they are on top of it doing investigations,” Harrell said.
He added that the city administration is working with officials from the University of Washington to respond to the weekend shootings in the U-District.
“We have to defer to the university and their police system, but we’re in discussion with them about what can be done immediately to keep everyone safe,” Harrell said.
Below is the full interview KOMO News did with Harrell on Monday:
Tremayne Edwards of Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility said it's important to not feel numb or helpless after acts of gun violence in the community.
“We still have to fight back against that - we might feel like nothing will every change. We have to combat that mindset. Unfortunately, that’s something with this very American epidemic of gun violence in our country, sometimes it often feels we often just respond with thoughts and prayers," Edwards said.