Driver targeted by gunfire on his way to work; suspect in custody

TUKWILA, Wash. — Jan. 9, 2020 update: The Washington State Patrol said a person was taken into custody after a driver said he was shot at while driving Wednesday morning in Tukwila.

Investigators said officers responded to a West Seattle traffic call involving a driver going the wrong way on a one way road.

Troopers said the suspect fled but a passenger stayed in the car. Officers also found a shotgun inside.

According to troopers, an officer heard about the Tukwila incident, thought the car and shotgun looked familiar and called the Washington State Patrol.

The suspect was later taken into custody.

Our original text from Jan. 8, 2020:

A driver in south King County says he was almost killed after being shot at as he was about to hop on an I-5 ramp Wednesday morning in Tukwila.

Kris Schrum was on his way to work when he says another car came by his, and almost hit him.

Schrum said he saw the other person driving erratically long before he got to the entrance for the I-5 on ramp.

He said he went on the ramp and saw the other driver go straight, but the next thing he knew, he and other car were side-by-side. That’s when Schrum honked his horn.

Schrum thought it was over until he looked in his rear view mirror.

“You know, when I really think about it, you know it makes me sick to my stomach.”

“I was in the right lane and there was just a small shoulder, and he comes flying up right next to me. We’re like mirror to mirror,” Schrum said. “That’s when it was just like an explosion went off.”

He said the window shattered and glass went everywhere, even in his eye.

Schrum said he wasn’t sure what had happened until he saw what was on his dashboard.

“There was a shotgun shell up here, that the detective took. Bullet hole in the steering wheel,” said Danielle Ramsey, Schrum’s girlfriend, in a Facebook post.

In the post, Ramsey walked people through the damage caused by shotgun pellets. “He’s lucky to be alive today you guys and it could be your loved ones, so please share it, share it, share it,” Ramsey said in the Facebook post.

Schrum said, “He had to have did this to somebody else, or somebody else has seen something.”

KIRO 7 found out Washington State Patrol troopers received a report 30 minutes earlier on a driver in a light blue-colored sedan, who flashed a gun but didn’t shoot.

“I can’t believe that there’s people out there that just, without a conscience, can go around doing stuff like that,” Schrum said.

Schrum was shocked but grateful that the outcome wasn’t worse. “Very easily, could have took my life. You know?"

Schrum described the driver as short with dark hair and a goatee.

Washington State Patrol troopers are looking for a light blue sedan and are asking anyone with information to give them a call.

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