Fatal bullets at Seattle festival not from arrested teen's gun
Police have determined that the bullets that killed two bystanders at a Seattle food festival did not come from the gun fired by an arrested 15-year-old suspect. Investigators are still searching for two additional weapons involved in the shootout, which left three people dead and several others injured.
Why it matters
The findings complicate the ongoing investigation into a high-profile public shooting and highlight the challenges of tracking 'ghost guns' in violent crimes.
<p>Preliminary testing showed the bullets that killed two bystanders during a <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/27/shooting-at-a-seattle-food-festival-three-dead-and-four-wounded/" target="_blank">shootout at a crowded Seattle food festival</a> last weekend didn’t come from the gun a 15-year-old arrested at the scene was seen firing, police said in court documents. </p> <p>The teen repeatedly shot an untraceable ghost gun into a crowd, police said, and the King County prosecutor’s office filed charges of first-degree assault with a firearm and unlawful possession of a handgun.</p> <p>In a statement supporting the charges, police said preliminary testing of bullets recovered from the two bystanders killed showed they did not match that weapon.</p> <p>The shooting in the waning hours of the Bite of Seattle festival near the Space Needle left three people dead, including a 19-year-old suspect, and at least four bystanders injured, including a toddler.
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