SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered a 15-year-old charged in connection with the July shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival to be released from juvenile detention on electronic home monitoring while he awaits trial, according to reporting by The Seattle Times, summarized by The Seattle Focal, and KOMO News.
Source: The Seattle Times via The Seattle Focal
The teenager has not been charged with murder. He faces charges of first-degree assault with a firearm enhancement and unlawful possession of a firearm by a person under 18, court records cited by KOMO News show. Ballistic evidence presented at an earlier court appearance indicated that his gun likely did not match the bullets that killed three people in the July shootout at Seattle Center, and earlier reporting said his shots were not responsible for any of the three deaths.
Prosecutors opposed the release. In a filing quoted by KOMO News, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Logan Bryant argued that firing into a crowd of adults and children who had come to enjoy the festival posed the greatest possible threat to the community. The teen's attorneys, who had sought his release last month and were denied at that time, argued he had behaved well in custody and was keeping up with his high school classes.
Judge Veronica Galván said at the hearing that probable cause had been found and the teen had been held, but that new evidence raised other issues, noting what she called a colorable claim of self-defense and disparities in how other youth in similar circumstances have been treated by the prosecutor's office, KOMO News reported.
Source: KOMO News
Three people died and four others were injured, including a 2-year-old boy who was later discharged from hospital, in the gunfire that erupted around 6 p.m. on the final day of the annual food festival near the Space Needle. Seattle police have said the teen was one of at least four suspects; another suspect died during the shootout, and investigators have been looking into two further people of interest. The charges against the teenager are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Sources: The Seattle Times (reporting summarized by The Seattle Focal); KOMO News. The suspect is a minor and is not named, in line with Awaaz Punjab's minor-safety rule.