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The latest details:
- Police were involved in a shooting around 1:30 p.m. after attempted robbery at 7-Eleven at 627 1st Ave. in downtown Seattle.
- Three officers were shot after fighting with suspects. One officer is in serious but stable condition. The other two were released from the hospital.
- Two suspects involved have been detained. One was found dead inside a building.
Three police officers were shot Thursday afternoon and one more was injured while responding to a robbery in downtown Seattle. One of the three suspects is dead according to a police spokesperson. One officer is listed in serious but stable condition, upgraded from critical with life-threatening injuries.
A 17-year-old girl was captured in the initial minutes after the incident. The second robbery suspect, a 19-year-old man, was barricaded inside a building. That suspect was later discovered to have died.
Seattle police say another 19-year-old man involved in the robbery was taken into custody shortly after 6 p.m.
It started as an attempted robbery of a 7-Eleven at 627 1st Ave. around 1:30 p.m. Seattle Police Deputy Chief Carmen Best said three suspects ran from the scene and were stopped a block away by the responding officers. One male officer was fighting with a suspect on the ground when the 17-year-old hit the officer over the head with a bottle.
The 19-year-old who later died ran into the entryway of an office building in the 900 block of First Avenue and he exchanged gunfire with the officers.
His death is being investigated by the King County Medical Examiner.
One male officer, 30, is in serious but stable condition, according to Harborview Medical Center. Best said the officer was shot in the face and subsequently the ribcage. A female officer, 42, was released. She was shot in the chest but her vest stopped the bullet, Best said. Those two officers are two- and three-year veterans of the force.
A fourth male officer, a 27-year veteran of the force, was grazed by a bullet in the hand and released after being treated at Harborview.
"When we think about our police, this is who we should think about. People who put their lives on the line every day. People who leave their homes in the morning and their families don't know if they'll come back. In this case, these two people, these two wonderful officers are going to be able to go home," Mayor Ed Murray said.
Seattle Police evacuated the Federal Building on First Avenue and Madison Street during the investigation.
Meredith Rock, who works as a postal clerk in the Federal Building, said she was “pretty freaked out” by the evacuation.
“All these cops started showing up, and they said there was a shooting,” Rock said. “They told me to stay in the office. They told me to lock down the building, but then cops through the window, people with big guns were saying, ‘Get out! Get out now.’ So then they came rapping on my window, and I came out, and they just rushed me out of the building.”
Cynthia Moore has worked at Housing and Urban Development on Western and Marion for 37 years, and she said this was the first time this type of incident has happened outside her work. “I’m just kind of shaken up and hoping everything comes out OK,” Moore said.
SPD said detectives seeking additional photos and video from the scene and are asking anyone with images to call (206) 684-5550.
