Highway 18 closed after chase of Kent shooting suspect ends in ravine

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — A police chase closed all lanes of eastbound State Route 18 in the Snoqualmie area for nearly two hours Thursday night.

It went from South King County to the Eastside after an earlier shooting in Kent’s East Hill-Meridian area.

Police were called to the Phoenix Court Apartments in the 23900 block of 111th Place Southeast shortly before 4 p.m. The

Officers found a 35-year-old Kent man with several gunshot wounds. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

At about 7 p.m., a Kent K-9 officer saw what he believed to be the shooting suspect’s car. He tried to pull it over, but the driver sped up and tried to get away.

Because the officer suspected the driver was armed and may have been involved in the earlier shooting, he started a chase.

Police chased the car for several miles, eventually heading east on Highway 18.

The King County Sheriff’s Office Guardian One helicopter, King County deputies, and state troopers joined in to help.

While the suspect was on Highway 18 in Snoqualmie, he crashed into another car. The impact sent the suspect’s car down a steep ravine, where it hit a tree.

But it didn’t end there. The driver and a woman who was his passenger got out and ran into the woods.

The woman, who was hurt in the crash, was quickly found by police. State troopers closed the highway at Issaquah-Hobart Road while they looked for the second suspect.

A K-9 team tracked the man and he was taken into custody.

Eastside Fire & Rescue had to rescue one of the two people who had been in the car because the ravine was so steep.

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The man was arrested for investigation of vehicular assault, eluding police, and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Kent detectives are investigating the man’s possible involvement in the earlier shooting. Police said more charges are likely.

The Thursday afternoon shooting was the second to happen within 12 hours.

The first shooting happened in the morning at an apartment complex on South 272nd Street on Kent’s West Hill neighborhood.

A man and a woman were shot. Both are in the hospital, and one of them is in critical condition.

No suspect information was released.

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