Woman struck as man, police fire weapons

A 19-year-old au pair from Germany was injured early yesterday in a shootout between a 21-year-old Seattle man and police officers outside a popular Belltown bar.

The woman is expected to recover. The suspected gunman, identified as Francisco Figueroa-Cook, was shot in the leg, briefly hospitalized and later booked into jail.

The man was involved in a fight in Belltown Billiards on the northwest corner of Blanchard Street and First Avenue around 1 a.m. and was kicked out by bar employees, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said.

He returned about an hour later, riding a motorcycle that police later determined had been stolen. He was riding east on Blanchard Street and held a .357 Magnum revolver in his left hand, the chief said.

As he approached First Avenue, "he fired at least three rounds in the air, leveled his gun" and fired at people outside the bar, Kerlikowske said. Six Seattle police officers, who were behind the bar near an alley west of First Avenue, saw the shooting and drew their weapons, he said.

The man pointed his gun in the direction of at least one officer, but the officers did not shoot because there was a hot-dog vendor and several other people across Blanchard Street, the chief said.

As the man continued east with his gun pointed at police, one officer fired four rounds and a second officer fired three rounds, Kerlikowske said. The man, who was struck by a bullet in the upper left thigh, ignored the officers' orders to stop his motorcycle and drop his weapon. He ran a stop sign, hit a northbound car and was thrown over that vehicle, Kerlikowske said.

The 19-year-old woman was with friends across the street from the officers and was hit by a bullet or a ricocheted fragment, Kerlikowske said. It was dark, the woman was against a brick wall, and several trees and a parked car may have obscured the officers' views of the people standing there, he said.

Two friends who were with the woman dropped to the ground. But the woman, a German citizen who has been in Seattle two years, may have been standing at the time of the shooting because she was struck in the side, "fairly high up," he said.

"We do not know who is responsible for the wound to her, and it could well be one of our officers," Kerlikowske said. The woman is at Harborview Medical Center and is expected to recover, the chief said.

"I'm very pleased and very proud these officers saw the entire event unfolding, saw the backdrop of the hot-dog vendor [and other witnesses] ... and clearly did not fire until a safer time," Kerlikowske said, adding they acted in accordance with their training. When they did fire, "it would've been almost impossible in the middle of a shooting scene [to tell] that somebody would be in danger," he said.

The gunfight lasted maybe a minute, the chief said.

Figueroa-Cook was released from the hospital and booked into the King County Jail yesterday afternoon on suspicion of drive-by shooting, assault and possessing a stolen vehicle, jail records show. The two officers who fired their weapons are veterans, one with 13 years on the force, the other with 11 years, the chief said. One officer had been involved in two previous shootings but Kerlikowske declined to provide details until the officers' names are released Monday.

Both are on paid administrative leave, which is routine in such situations.

Seattle Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan contributed to this report.

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