Car shot at, rammed off road in Fife before police find suspect vehicle set on fire
Police in Fife are investigating after a car was shot at and rammed off an overpass for Interstate 5 early Wednesday morning. The car caught fire, and the driver was taken to a local hospital with significant injuries.
Less than a mile from the crash scene, a vehicle that had been reported stolen from Bellevue was found on fire. Fife Police Department assistant chief Aaron Gardner said investigators believe people in that vehicle shot at the car on the overpass, forced it off the road, then drove away and intentionally set their stolen vehicle on fire.
No one has been arrested.
“We’re still working,” Gardner said. “We’ve got a lot of questions that we need to get answered.”
Police were first called about 2:47 a.m. to what was reported to be a single-vehicle collision on the Wapato Way overpass, Gardner said. Officers found a Honda down an embankment that was fully engulfed in flames. Gardner said the driver of the vehicle, a man, got out. He was taken to a hospital.
Witnesses told police another passenger in the vehicle, a woman, was picked up by a car before officers arrived. Gardner said the woman reportedly got out of the Honda and screamed about being shot at before she was driven away. Police don’t know who that woman is or whether she was injured.
Gardner said two bullet holes were found in the Honda.
Gardner said investigators believe the Honda and another vehicle were driving north on 70th Avenue East, which turns into Wapato Way, when the suspect vehicle began firing at the Honda near the intersection of 20th Street East. As the two vehicles got onto the overpass, the suspect vehicle rammed the Honda off the road.
Police suspect it was not a random incident. Gardner said it’s early in the investigation, but that the facts indicate the people in both vehicles knew one another.
While officers were on scene, dispatchers reported that a vehicle was found on fire in Milton on the side of Pacific Highway. Gardner said police believe it is the vehicle used to ram the Honda off the road. He said investigators believe the suspect vehicle was then driven to Milton and intentionally set on fire.
No suspects were found on the scene of the vehicle fire.
This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 11:50 AM.
