A suspect in an illegal gun operation has life-threatening injuries after an officer-involved shooting near the Lowes parking lot in Kent on Friday.
Two undercover agents met up with two suspects, who were selling guns illegally in the 24000 block of Pacific Highway South just before 5 p.m. All four of them climbed into the suspects' vehicle.
"As part of that operation, the suspects attempted to rob our undercover officers. A shootout ensued," said Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas.
Several shots were fired, and one of the suspects was hit.
The second suspect, who was a passenger, got out of the car with a gun in his hand. He ran onto Pacific Highway South where he was hit by a car. He was taken into custody and then transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Neither of the two agents was injured, nor any other officers on scene.
No other buildings or cars were hit during the shootout, but some question why this type of buy would go down in a public place.
"This is a high crime area, there's guns all over in south King County, and we're doing everything we can to address guns and gun violence," said Thomas. "And we have to go where the bad guys are selling guns and they're doing those operations."
South King County averages 58 shootings per month. This is the fourth officer-involved shooting in Kent this year, according to Thomas.
