Seattle police homicide detectives are investigating the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man near the University of Washington early yesterday.

Three men in a sport-utility vehicle who apparently had been socializing in the University District pulled over in the 4200 block of Pasadena Place Northeast, a side street under Interstate 5, north of the Lake Washington Ship Canal Bridge. They told police that after a night out, they pulled over and were sleeping inside the SUV of one the men, said police spokeswoman Debra Brown.

At some point, someone opened one of the SUV's doors and fired several shots at a man in the front-passenger seat, she said.

Brown couldn't say how many times the man was shot, nor could she say what the motive for the shooting might have been.

Soon after, the driver of the vehicle headed south on I-5, attempting to get his friend to Harborview Medical Center, Brown said.

But the driver and the second passenger apparently realized they could not make it to the hospital fast enough so pulled over at Fairview Avenue North and Mercer Street just after 4 a.m. and called 911.

The injured man later died at Harborview.

As of yesterday afternoon, the King County Medical Examiner's Office had not identified the man or notified his family, an investigator said. The shooter remains at large.

"We don't think we have anything close to the full story," Brown said. "We don't know what transpired at the scene and probably won't know for some time."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com