A child suffered minor injuries from flying glass Sunday evening after drivers in two separate cars opened fire on each other in Skyway, sending King County Sheriff's Office deputies racing to the 11900 block of Renton Avenue South just after 5 p.m. Both vehicles initially sped off, but deputies tracked them down nearby within minutes. No one was struck directly by a bullet, but the shattered glass left at least one child hurt, and at least two children were riding in one of the cars when the shooting broke out.
According to KING 5, deputies responded at 5:17 p.m. Sunday and confirmed that while no occupants were hit directly by gunfire, the child's injuries came from glass shattered during the exchange. The station's report notes deputies located both cars shortly after the initial call, though it remains unclear what sparked the confrontation between the drivers or whether they knew each other beforehand. The King County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit is now investigating, per KIRO 7 News Seattle. Investigators have not said whether they've identified the specific suspect vehicles involved or recovered ballistic evidence from the scene.
A Neighborhood Already on Edge
The shooting lands in a Skyway community still reeling from the killing of Coast Guard Lt. Connor Scott Overstreet, who was shot and killed near South 124th Street and South Langston Road just two weeks earlier. As Hoodline reported in “Skyway Shooting Kills One Overnight,” that case remains unsolved, and Crime Stoppers along with Overstreet's family are now offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, according to FOX 13 Seattle.
Sunday's shooting also occurred just blocks from the Sheriff's Office Southwest Precinct 4 storefront at 12629 Renton Avenue South, underscoring how close the gunfire erupted to the department's own local outpost. Skyway is an unincorporated part of King County, meaning the Sheriff's Office — not a city police department — handles primary patrol and major crime response there, per Wikipedia, which cites U.S. Census Bureau figures putting the community's 2020 population at 17,397.
A Pattern of Gunfire on Renton Avenue
This is not the first time gunfire has rattled this stretch of Skyway. In April, Hoodline reported on a pre-dawn shooting near South 117th Street and 85th Avenue South that sent one victim to Harborview Medical Center, and just weeks before that, a fatal late-night shooting struck Skyway's Creston Point Apartments. The Renton Avenue South corridor itself has a violent history dating back to April 2018, when Patch reported a shootout near South 126th Street left two men dead and five others injured.
Children have been caught in Skyway's gun violence before. The King County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook statement that a 10-year-old girl was seriously injured during a May 2024 shooting at Creston Point Apartments, a case that triggered a major crimes investigation and later led to a Seattle teen pleading not guilty to second-degree murder. Public Health – Seattle & King County notes that roughly one in five King County adults keeps a firearm in or around the home, and about one-third of gun-owning parents don't keep those weapons locked up — a statistic that speaks to the broader risk children face even away from targeted violence.
Countywide Numbers Tell a Different Story
The Skyway shootings stand in contrast to a broader countywide trend. The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office recorded a sharp drop in gun violence in 2025, marking it the safest year since before the COVID-19 pandemic, with juvenile shooting victims falling 61% from 2024 to 2025, according to the Auburn Reporter. Even so, localized outbreaks along corridors like Renton Avenue South continue to draw heavy law enforcement responses.
Potential Charges Ahead
Under Washington law, drive-by shooting is classified as a Class B felony. RCW 9A.36.045 covers anyone who recklessly discharges a firearm from or near a motor vehicle in a way that creates a substantial risk of death or serious injury, according to the Washington State Legislature. A conviction carries up to 10 years in state prison and a $20,000 fine. Whether either driver involved in Sunday's shooting will face that charge depends on what the Major Crimes Unit's investigation turns up — including whether suspects are identified at all, a question that remains open in both this case and the still-unsolved killing of Overstreet weeks earlier.
