A man was shot in the hip during a reported drive-by shooting in Lake Forest Park late Friday night, sending residents running and screaming as gunfire erupted near Northeast 179th Court and 28th Avenue Northeast. Officers and fire crews rushed the victim to a Seattle hospital for treatment, while the suspect or suspects fled before police could arrive at the scene.
Officers responded to the area around 10:28 p.m. on October 3, according to an official police release reported by Shoreline Area News, which noted that media inquiries on the case are being directed to Lake Forest Park Police Commander Ross Adams. Residents in the area reported hearing numerous gunshots and seeing people running and screaming, according to KIRO 7 News. When officers arrived, they found a man who had been shot in the hip, and officers and fire crews provided first aid before transporting him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment.
Preliminary information indicated the shooting may have been a drive-by, police told the station, though the suspect or suspects had already left the scene by the time officers got there. Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun along with multiple shell casings at the site, and the investigation remains ongoing. It is not yet known whether the recovered handgun belonged to the victim or to the suspect, nor whether the shooting was targeted or random.
Small Department Leans on Regional Backup
Multiple neighboring law enforcement agencies responded alongside Lake Forest Park officers to help secure the scene and conduct the initial investigation, the same report notes. That kind of mutual aid is routine for the department, which maintains a small force of roughly 16 to 20 commissioned officers, according to public safety testing and municipal records compiled by the National Testing Network. For complex felony investigations, the department is a member of the Coalition of Small Police Agencies, a cooperative formed in 2002 that operates a shared Major Crimes Task Force across 12 King County jurisdictions, according to the City of Black Diamond.
It is not the department's first encounter with a serious firearm-related case requiring outside help. In September 2023, Lake Forest Park police investigated another major shooting and multi-vehicle collision near Bothell Way NE that stemmed from an attempted stolen vehicle recovery and left a driver dead in Seattle, according to the LFP Town Crier, with that case also drawing on the CSPA task force.
A Rare Scene in a Low-Crime Suburb
Lake Forest Park is a small, low-density suburb at the northern end of Lake Washington, with an estimated population of 13,191 as of 2025, per U.S. Census Bureau figures cited by Data Commons. Violent crime accounted for just 2% of total police arrests in the city between 2013 and 2025, according to Police Scorecard data, underscoring how unusual a public shooting is for residents there.
The city has seen other brushes with crime this year, though none involving gunfire. In May, Lake Forest Park police apprehended two juvenile suspects after they crashed a stolen car down an embankment and drove onto the nearby Burke-Gilman Trail near Northeast 153rd Street, an incident Hoodline covered in its reporting on cars invading regional trails.
What a Drive-By Charge Could Mean
Under Washington state law, RCW 9A.36.045, drive-by shooting is classified as a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000, according to the law firm Black & Askerov. State law allows criminal recklessness to be inferred when a firearm is discharged from a moving motor vehicle, though no suspects have been named or arrested in this case as the investigation continues.
The victim's transport to Harborview Medical Center reflects standard regional protocol: the Seattle hospital is a Level I trauma center serving Alaska, Idaho, and Montana, according to UW Medicine. Harborview, owned by King County and operated by UW Medicine, is currently in the midst of a major expansion after voters approved a $1.74 billion bond in 2020 for a new medical tower and emergency department, a modernization project now estimated to cost between $2.25 billion and $2.43 billion and delayed until at least 2031, per reporting from The Urbanist.
No arrests have been announced, and police have not said whether the shooting was targeted or random. Anyone with information is being asked to contact Lake Forest Park police, with inquiries directed to Commander Ross Adams as the investigation continues.
