SEATTLE — Saturday's shooting on I-5 north near I-405 in Tukwila adds to the growing list of violent incidents happening on highways throughout Western Washington.
State troopers are staying busy on freeways in Western Washington, responding to yet another shooting Saturday afternoon that sent one person to the hospital. According to the State Patrol, there have already been 20 freeway shootings in King County since the beginning of the year. That number is nearly half of the number of shootings that occurred all of last year in the county.
"These types of situations are happening more and more, and they are really needless situations,” said Trooper Allen.
This disturbing trend is also being seen by troopers in Pierce County. They said there have been at least 23 highway shootings in their county since January. Which is alarming, considering there were a total of 31 shootings on the highway in Pierce County in 2021.
"A lot of these incidents occur as a result from some form of hand motions, facial expressions, honking or other driving behaviors that push a button here," said Trooper Robert Reyer with the Washington State Patrol.
He believes a contributing factor could be the fact there are more drivers on the road now than there were last year. So, he encourages drivers to be more courteous and to do their best not to react to other driver’s actions.
"You don't want to risk it just for a split second decision to be mad at somebody, you don't want to risk your own life or the life of somebody else that could get shot," said Trooper Reyer.