2 teens held in drive-by shooting near Lacey

JEREMY PAWLOSKI

Two teens have been arrested in connection with Thursday afternoon’s drive-by shooting in the 7800 block of Samurai Drive near Lacey.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the right thigh about 3:45 p.m. and was treated at a hospital. Witnesses reported that three youths were walking on Samurai Drive when a gray car drove by, and the passenger fired six to eight shots at the group.

Only the 15-year-old was struck. Thurston County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Brady said Friday that the teen was in stable condition.

Detectives located a 16-year-old suspect, thought to be the driver of the gray vehicle, Friday morning at a home on Queets Drive, Brady said. The vehicle was at the home. An 18-year-old suspect, believed to be the shooter, was arrested Friday morning at River Ridge High School, Brady said.

Later Friday, Brady added that detectives had recovered a semi-automatic .22-caliber handgun thought to have been involved in the shooting. The gun was recovered at a home in the Rainier Vista Mobile Home Park on Steilacoom Road.

A video of a recent fight between the 16-year-old suspect and the shooting victim obtained from a cellphone helped detectives identify the suspects, Brady said. Thursday’s shooting is thought to have been the result of a long dispute between two groups of youths.

The two suspects were booked Friday on suspicion of two counts of first-degree assault and one count of attempted murder.

Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465 jpawloski@theolympian.com theolympian.com/thisjustin @JeremyPawloski