No arrests in Pioneer Square shooting that killed 3. Seattle Police requests video from black Tesla

May 19, 2025 / 3:00 pm

Seattle police continue to search for suspects and clues after four young people were gunned down outside a Pioneer Square nightclub early Saturday morning.

Three of the shooting victims died. The fourth remained in critical condition Monday.

During a press conference Monday, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said police are looking for the owner of a black Tesla that was seen in the area at the time of the shooting. Barnes said the Tesla driver is not a suspect in the shooting, but their vehicle might have picked up footage of the crime as it unfolded.

“We believe that that vehicle was in the area at the time of the shooting. We know that these vehicles are equipped with video evidence and that they write over very quickly,” Barnes said. “So, it's important to get that information out now.”

Officers responded to a disturbance shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday outside the OHM Nightclub on South Washington Street. Police found four people with gunshot wounds, all of whom were unresponsive.

“Because officers were so close, we were not able to stop this incident but were able to try to give life-saving measures to people and perhaps deter further use of gunfire,” Barnes said.

Medics pronounced two men and one woman dead at the scene. The fourth victim, a man, was transported to Harborview Medical Center.

Barnes said all four shooting victims were young, in their teens or early 20s. The identities of the three people who died have not been released by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell called the shooting a “devastating, heartbreaking tragedy.”

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in our city,” Harrell said in a statement, “and while homicides and violent crime have been trending in the right direction so far this year, this incident shows that we must do more to prevent senseless gun violence as we head into the summer months.”

Saturday's victims bring the total number of homicides in Seattle to 12 for 2025. The city recorded 54 homicides in 2024, including 20 in the first five months of the year.

The latest shooting was one of several violent incidents in Seattle over the weekend. About a block away from the site of the shooting, a man was knocked unconscious, and another man was stabbed in the back Sunday night during a fight in Occidental Square. A 41-year-old suspect was arrested a few blocks away. The stabbing victim was in serious condition at Harborview.

Another stabbing occurred Sunday afternoon in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Police responding to the scene found a 57-year-old man with a stab wound in his upper chest. No arrests have been made in that case, and the victim was in serious condition at Harborview.

Lisa Howard, executive director of the Alliance for Pioneer Square, said the mass shooting comes at a moment when the area was experiencing a revitalization with successful art walks, a well-attended jazz night in February, and multiple new businesses opening this spring.

“This was a huge surprise, because things have been moving forward so well,” Howard said. “I think the neighborhood's really hurting as a result of this, as is everyone. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims affected this weekend. We also want to remind people that the small businesses here, the people that live here, are also highly impacted by all of these actions. Please don't stay away or think that the neighborhood is unsafe.”

Barnes said Seattle police would increase patrols and police presence in Pioneer Square in the wake of the latest shooting.

He said investigators were working around the clock, and Seattle police are committed to making sure downtown is a safe place to visit and enjoy.

“But it takes the police, it takes the community, it takes everyone working together,” he said. “When we make an arrest in this case, we will come back with you, will give you that information, and we will ensure that through transparency, that those persons or person are held accountable to the highest extent of the law. We owe that to the people who lost their lives this week, and we owe it to our survivor.”