Seattle shooting charges: Bullets that killed 2 not from teen suspect's gun

Sara Jean Green, The Seattle Times on Jul 29, 2026

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SEATTLE — The bullets that killed two innocent bystanders during a Sunday gunfight at Seattle Center do not appear to have been fired by a Polymer80 9 mm ghost gun found in the possession of a 15-year-old boy arrested at the scene, according to King County prosecutors.

Based on ballistic evidence and witness accounts, police believe the 15-year-old fired into the crowd at last weekend’s Bite of Seattle food festival, but his gun was one of four involved in the early-evening shootout, according to charges filed against the boy Wednesday.

Three people were killed and at least four others were injured.

The boy, who was arrested Sunday at the scene, remains in juvenile detention at the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center on 12th Avenue. Also charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, the boy was initially scheduled to be arraigned Thursday but that hearing was canceled after prosecutors filed a motion aimed at having his case moved from juvenile to adult court.

The boy’s arraignment will be held after a hearing is held to determine if he should be tried as an adult, a process that can take months.

The first-degree assault charge, which includes a firearm enhancement, alleges the boy was illegally armed and fired into a crowd, all but assuring he will remain in secure detention while the investigation is ongoing. As of Wednesday, police had not referred a case to prosecutors seeking murder charges, presumably because ballistic testing isn’t complete.

But prosecutors can amend the charges at any time, once new information is available. Key questions remain to be answered, including who fired the bullets that injured and killed people.

Killed in the shooting outside the Seattle Center Armory were Ashley Whitehead, 56; Carlos Israel Sanchez Villalba, 44; and 19-year-old Junior Cee Niko Semo, who Seattle police have said was involved in the gunfight but may not have gotten any shots off. Whitehead, Villalba and the other people who suffered gunshot wounds were innocent bystanders apparently caught in the crossfire.

Police are asking the public to direct tips to 206-233-5000.

Police believe the shooting was gang related and are still searching for at least one other suspected shooter.

Three firearms, including a ghost gun with an extended magazine taken off the 15-year-old shooting suspect, were recovered at the scene.

One of the guns, found Monday by patrol officers, was a Glock 45 equipped with a 40-round capacity extended magazine and a “switch,” an illegal part that modifies a semiautomatic handgun into an automatic weapon, according to police. Officers recovered 14 fired casings from two weapons — the ghost gun and the Glock — at the scene.

The third gun, a Springfield Armory 9 mm, was apparently not fired.