A fight at an E Pike bar ended in a melee leaving one man shot and hospitalized and another on the run early Thursday.
Seattle Police report they are looking for the suspect in the just after midnight shooting that left a 29-year-old with gunshot wounds to his abdomen.
According to SPD and East Precinct radio updates, police were called to reported gunfire at E Pike’s Cha Cha Lounge and found a huge crowd filing out of the E Pike basement bar. Minutes later, a victim with two gunshot wounds to the abdomen was reported several blocks away near Boren and Pike on First Hill.
UPDATE: Cha Cha owner Jeff Ofelt says his management is still working out details of what happened in the shooting but says the gunfire did not happen inside the bar.
UPDATE x2: According to police, a witness reported the suspect was removed from the bar, and retrieved a gun from a nearby vehicle where the assault continued along E Pike.
Witnesses reported the shooter fled in a vehicle last seen headed east. Police did not immediately locate the suspect.
As Seattle Fire treated the victim and took him to Harborview in reported serious condition, police worked to clear the large crowd reported around 300 people and collect evidence at the scene including at least one shell casing found at the lounge and a shoe from one of the involved combatants, according to radio updates.
Police were reviewing security video and described a fight involving four men in the middle of the crowd outside the bar. One of the men reportedly fell and then pulled out a gun and opened fire. A second man involved in the fight also reportedly brandished a firearm.
There were no reported additional injuries or immediate arrests.
Anyone with information is asked to call the SPD Violent Crimes Tip Line at (206) 233-5000.
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Granted I haven’t been to Cha Cha since ~2017, but what happened, it used to be a bunch of 20-something hipsters trying to get laid on a weeknight (Guilty)……now they have guns?
This stuff never happens at the gay bars. Just sayin.
Oh I donβt know, Iβve seen a lot of HOT guns POP OFF at gay bars in my day