(The Center Square) – A 2-year-old was critically injured in a shooting in Federal Way Thursday morning, and the search for the shooter continues.
Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell told The Center Square the shooting happened around 10 a.m. in the parking lot next to the IHOP restaurant on Campus Drive just west of 1st Avenue.
“There was some sort of altercation between two males who knew each other in the parking lot and the shooter who opened fire struck a 2-year-old in the other person’s car,” Ferrell said. “Tragically and sickeningly the toddler hit and was initially taken to Saint Francis hospital nearby, but then rushed to Harborview in critical condition.”
Ferrell couldn’t say what led up to the altercation, or if the shooter fled on foot or in a vehicle.
Around 3 p.m. the search for the shooter continued with a large police presence within several blocks of where the shooting took place, even as investigators remained at the crime scene at the parking lot near WinCo Foods grocery store.
“We’re going to move heaven and earth to find this person and we are going to find them and hold them accountable,” Ferrell said.
The mayor said his office has been dealing with an increase in violent crime and lawlessness over the last several years. He applauded the Legislature’s passage this session of an initiative to roll back restrictions on police pursuits.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Federal Way Police Department at (253) 835-2121.
