RENTON, Wash. — A Kirkland man is accused of firing at a Renton police officer while she was inside her vehicle. Now the suspect and his mother are speaking out, saying that’s not what happened.
Surveillance video captures part of the shooting incident. It shows 24-year-old Frankie Robertson coming out of the back of a red Kia, appearing to open fire from a gas station pump. He’s shooting south toward Talbot Road South.
“He was not shooting at an officer,” said Lanise Edwards, Robertson’s mother. “I just don’t understand how they can have false accusations like that,” she said.
Robertson said there was another red vehicle that he was firing at.
“You guys can’t see we’re being targeted? You guys can’t see that?” Robertson said over the phone call from jail.
The video does show another red car in the area, but it does not show what initially happened that spurred Robertson to shoot. He said he was trying to motion to the other red car to leave and attempting to deescalate the situation before he got out the gun.
Moments later, you see him opening fire. Then he jumps back inside, and the car speeds away.
Another camera shows a Renton police vehicle on Talbot Road South when Robertson started shooting. The Renton police chief put out a statement last week after the incident happened, saying, “While sitting in traffic a subject fired multiple rounds at our officer, this was an unprovoked attack which I can only assume the intent was to kill the officer.”
Robertson said he did not even see the police vehicle there.
“We’re getting lied on,” Robertson said over the phone. “Now I’m going to be targeted by the police and everything, and I look like a bad guy to the whole community, and that’s not the type of person I am,” he said.
Robertson has a criminal history and is not supposed to be carrying a firearm but said he didn’t feel safe without a weapon.
“I’m not saying that’s right. Because it’s not,” Edwards said. She said they were working on a plan to relocate Robertson out of the area so that he could get a fresh start when this happened.
Renton police said there are a lot of moving parts with the case and are asking for the public’s help in collecting more information and videos. They ask anyone with information to call police.
However, in a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon, the police department still stated, “One of our officers was targeted.”
Investigators also accused Robertson of firing at a state trooper in Tukwila earlier this year, saying they found his DNA at the scene.
He’s currently being held in custody on a $500,000 bond.