A buried shotgun, a troubling online message and a fast-moving crisis call ended with Seattle police digging up a weapon in the woods and a Tacoma college student temporarily cut off from firearms under a court order.
According to Seattle police, officers recovered the shotgun after responding to a crisis complaint tied to an online message from the student that referenced a possible mass shooting. The student was detained, taken to a hospital for evaluation and served with an Extreme Risk Protection Order that temporarily blocks access to guns.
Discord photo triggered a crisis call
In a post on the Seattle Police Department blotter, officers said patrol units were dispatched on May 26 shortly before 1 p.m. after someone reported a photograph of a shotgun shared in a Discord message. Investigators traced the weapon to a Tacoma college student who had left his apartment carrying a shotgun case, and patrol officers working with SPD’s Crisis Response Team located and detained him because they believed he posed an imminent danger (Incident No. 2026-147917).
How investigators found the gun
The man was not carrying the shotgun when officers detained him. He later told investigators he had buried the gun in woods near Robinson Community Park in Bellevue, and officers recovered it with the identifying writing scratched off. KOMO News reported that police described the student as “increasingly erratic and radicalized” and said the weapon was seized as evidence.
What an ERPO does
An Extreme Risk Protection Order is a civil court order that can require someone to surrender firearms and bar them from buying or possessing weapons while the order is in effect, according to the Seattle Police Department's ERPO guidance. The measure is designed as a preventative tool, and data compiled by the University of Washington's ERPO dashboard tracks filings and trends across Washington state.
What's next
The shotgun was seized as evidence and investigators have not said whether criminal charges will be filed. Seattle police and university officials have asked anyone with information to contact authorities, and those in crisis were reminded to call or text the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
