Three teenagers were arrested during the Chinatown Seafair Parade on July 21 for carrying firearms, two of which were modified to be fully automatic, Seattle police have reported. According to KOMO News, the suspects are two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy who were detained by the police after being found with modified guns near the parade route at 7th Ave South and South Weller St.
The incident, which occurred at around 7:31 p.m., raised immediate concern among parade-goers. "It’s unfortunately a sign of the times that when you have large groups collecting like this you may not be consciously thinking about it but in the back of your mind you’re just hoping that nothing happens like this," Lee Bowman, a witness, told KING 5. One of the reporting parties, the father of a murdered victim in Auburn, believed the teens were taunting him, but a connection to the Auburn murder has not been verified by the authorities.
Upon their arrest, officers recovered a handgun from each of the teens. Two of the guns had been reported stolen and modified to fire automatically, as reported by MyNorthwest. Specifically, one of the firearms was equipped with a 30-round magazine and an auto-sear. The other firearm was an untraceable Polymer-80 handgun with another auto-sear.
The three juveniles were booked into the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children & Family Justice Center on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful carry of a pistol, and felony harassment. According to the Seattle Police Department, detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit have taken the lead on the investigation. The court has found probable cause to hold one teenager on unlawful possession of a firearm, while two teens will remain in custody until they are arraigned.
