10:32 AM PST on Monday, March 27, 2006

KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports

SEATTLE - Seattle police still have no motive for the shotgun massacre of four young men and two women who were killed while attending a party in a Capitol Hill neighborhood rental home Saturday morning.

The private party following a "zombie rave" was winding down when a man walked out, returned to the house wearing bandoliers of shotgun shells and opened fire on the young crowd, police said.

Six people were killed and another was critically injured as he fired dozens of rounds, police said. Outside, he fatally shot himself when confronted by police.

Police said it appeared to be the city's worst mass killing since 1983's Wah Mee massacre, when 13 died in an attack at a gambling club.

"It's one of the largest crime scenes the city has ever had," Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said.

The victims -- many with their faces painted and hair dyed for the zombie-themed rave -- were in their late teens and early 20s, police said. None had been identified publicly, but relatives and friends contacted the media with information about some of the victims.

Relatives of Jeremy Martin, 26, and Christopher Williamson, 21, confirmed that they were among the dead. Martin had been living in the house where the shooting occurred. Family members said his death had been confirmed by Harborview Medical Center.

Williamson's mother said she was informed of her son's death by the King County Medical Examiner's office Saturday night.

AP

Police and King Co. Medical Examiners Office workers remove a body from a house where a gunman opened fire, killing six before committing suicide when confronted by police.

Police said they didn't know the motive and Kerlikowske said there had not been any fights or arguments at the party.

Officers found three dead in the living room, one at the front door and another on the porch steps. One victim died at Harborview Medical Center, where another was in extremely critical condition and the third was stable, the nursing supervisor said.

About 20 people had gathered at the two-story rental house after a Friday night rave called "Better Off Undead" in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Some of the guests were "made up to look as if they were dead," Kerlikowske said.

The black-garbed shooter was described as being in his late 20s. Kerlikowske told reporters the man was "quiet and humble," had come to the area five years ago from out of state and had little involvement with police. He did not elaborate except to say the man's record was nonviolent.

Police had a tentative identification, the chief said, but he didn't release it. He said the shooter had been invited to the party.

The man left the party around 7 a.m. Saturday, went to his black Dodge pickup truck and turned around, police said.

As the gunman walked the half block back to the house, he spray painted the word "NOW" in orange twice on the sidewalk and once on the steps of a neighbor's home, police said.

AP

Mourners, including Amy Karwoski, 14, upper left, of Kent, Wash., and Rachel Roderick, 15, lower left, also of Kent, light candles about a half-block from the scene of the shooting.

He forced his way back inside the house as he fired, police said.

An officer in the neighborhood heard the shots and arrived to find a wounded victim staggering out of the house, Kerlikowske said. The officer confronted the man with a shotgun but got no further than "Drop your ..." before the man put the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger, the chief said.

The shooter also had a handgun, police said, but primarily used the 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun. In his truck, police found an assault rife and multiple "banana clips" carrying 30 bullets each.

Police said they did not know if drugs or alcohol were a factor, though Kerlikowske said marijuana and alcohol were found in the house.

Saturday's shooting is the worst one in Washington since 1983, when 13 people were killed in a robbery at a Seattle International District gambling parlor.

KING 5 News would like to interview any of the people who were at the party. Please call (206) 448-3850 or email newstips@king5.com.