A 13-year-old shot another 13-year-old on April 8 in the back play area of Lakeland Elementary School in a purported accidental shooting to the victim’s head, leaving him with a large, deep groove on the side of his skull. The King County Sheriff’s Office said the scene was secured quickly, and there was no threat to the public.

According to charging documents, a 13-year-old Sequoyah Middle School student has been charged with third-degree assault, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm while under 18 years old, two counts of unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon at a school facility and tampering with physical evidence. Documents state that this shooting occurred after the suspect, the victim and another friend were hanging out in the play area of Lakeland Elementary. Documents state that the suspect then accidentally shot the victim while showing him the firearm.

King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney said the teen is charged in juvenile court. McNerthney said the teen’s case cannot be moved to adult court under state law and is not a diversion case.

Details of the incident according to documents

According to charging documents, on April 8, Sequoyah Middle School video footage showed the victim, the suspect and the other friend attending school like normal. Documents state that the trio then left school and made their way to the Lakeland Elementary playground.

According to documents, the suspect is then seen on camera lifting his arm and extending it in the victim’s direction before he is seen dropping his arm, and the victim is seen falling to the ground. The other friend said that he saw the victim was bleeding from his head, so he ran with the suspect because he was scared.

Documents state that as the pair is running, the suspect is heard on the home’s Ring camera saying he doesn’t know what happened, doesn’t want to get caught and needs to get rid of something. Documents state the pair is then seen on camera footage walking toward a pond, and then a short while later, they are seen walking away.

According to documents, as the pair ran away and went to the pond, the victim told a King County uniformed deputy that he had been shot. Documents state that the victim had a bloody head wound, and while he was being treated, he accurately reported what the suspect was wearing, but he said he was 20 to 30 years old.

Documents state that shortly after, a couple of blocks away, the suspect was found with a backpack. Documents state that a pistol holster was found, and the suspect was then read his Miranda rights, but he was not questioned due to his age.

According to documents, the victim confirmed a photo of the suspect who shot him. Documents state that at the hospital, the victim told officers that the suspect had brought the gun to school in hopes of selling it.

Documents state that the victim said the trio then walked to Lakeland Elementary, and the suspect pulled the gun out to show it to them. The victim said that the suspect then accidentally shot him when he showed it to them.

Documents state that the gun could not be located, so arrangements were made for the King County Sheriff’s Marine Dive Team to search the pond that the pair was seen walking to after the shooting. Documents state that on the morning of April 9, the team found the gun at 10 a.m.

Documents state that the gun was a black Sig Sauer P365 9mm pistol. The gun was then test-fired, and it was found that the shell casing from the scene of the shooting and the shell casing from test-firing the gun came from the same gun.

Original story

According to the King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Brandyn Hull, at about 2:30 p.m. April 8, deputies were responding to an unrelated call when they were flagged down by a juvenile victim who had been assaulted on the elementary school’s property. Hull said it was later determined that the victim had a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, and the victim was transported to Harborview for treatment. Harborview Medical Center spokesperson Susan Gregg said the victim has since been discharged.

Hull said the juvenile suspect was taken into custody by deputies, and the case is currently open with their major crimes unit. The KCSO has not yet released the ages of the juveniles.

Lakeland Elementary is in unincorporated King County, but is part of Federal Way Public Schools.

According to an email sent to Lakeland Elementary families from Superintendent Dani Pfeiffer and Lakeland Principal Ra’Jeanna Conerly, the shooting occurred in the back play area of the elementary school. The email stated that the incident involved three Sequoyah Middle School students, and no Lakeland student was involved.

In a follow-up email, Pfeiffer and Conerly added that they recognize the concern the incident created, and they are taking the situation seriously. The email stated that families have questions about why Lakeland was not placed in lockdown, but the incident remains an active investigation, and therefore, they are limited in what they can share.

“We have already initiated contact with the King County Sheriff’s Office to ensure alignment and open communication around our safety and security protocols as well as debriefing this incident and continuing to strengthen our partnership,” the email stated.

According to school district spokesperson Jessica Morgan, the school followed the directives of the deputies on the scene who did not initiate a lockdown and had the most reliable and complete information at the time. Morgan said staff or students did not hear or see anything to warrant a lockdown, and it was not until after the incident occurred that the scene had been secured, and the youth was in custody, that the district received limited information from the KCSO.

“At no point did law enforcement direct the school to go into a lockdown as they had secured the scene and believed there was no immediate threat to the school or the students,” Morgan said. “Additionally, it was confirmed with officers that no lockdown was needed, and that it was safe to dismiss students from school.”

Danny Quintero, the father of an Lakeland Elementary student who lives in the the neighborhood that joins the school’s property line, said he’s concerned that, following the shooting, the school was not put on lockdown and parents were not alerted by the school that there had been a shooting until about five hours after it occurred. Quintero said that kindergarteners at the school are released at 3 p.m., and the rest of the students are released at 3:05 p.m. Additionally, he said officers were still on the premises when kids were leaving school.

“An assumption should have been made until there was full clarity of what was happening because you’re talking about a 20-minute time span between the core group of students getting out of the school and the actual event that happened. So there’s enough time to enact a lockdown,” Quintero said. “It costs almost nothing to do, and it certainly would cost a lot more if something worse happened.”

Quintero said he would like to have a standard protocol that, when any agency — whether it be the KCSO or the local police department — responds to a shooting at or near a school, there is a lockdown, even if it is just for 15 minutes. He said that when kids were walking home, there was still an active crime scene.

According to KCPAO spokesperson McNerthney, the suspect has not yet been charged, but had a first appearance hearing on April 9. McNerthney said prosecutors asked that the suspect remain in secure detention, but the court ordered the suspect to be released to electronic home monitoring.

McNerthney said the suspect’s mother told the court she would supervise the suspect. He said that the suspect’s defense attorney said the suspect was a football player with good grades and no prior history.

McNerthney said that the conditions of the electronic home monitoring are that the suspect is to be monitored 24 hours a day, and that there be a safety plan in place from the juvenile’s school, and that the suspect can have no contact with the victim or witnesses. McNerthney said the KCPAO does not have the case referral yet and anticipates getting it on April 11 for a charging decision. He said charges depend on what is referred from the investigating detective based on the admissible evidence and the requirements under state law.

This story was updated to reflect information sent to families in emails and charging documents. The article has been updated to reflect information about the suspect’s charges.