Argument over stolen PlayStation system prompted Kent shooting

Police say that two teens were shot in Kent on Thursday after a robbery and argument over a PlayStation game system.

The teens remain in critical condition this morning at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan said investigators have talked to the teens to try to identify the suspect. Detectives believe the wounded teens knew the gunman, as well as two men who were with the suspect when the shooting occurred.

"This is clearly not random," Strachan said.

The victims are a 17-year-old who was shot in the neck and an 18-year-old who was shot in the abdomen, Strachan said. They weren't identified by police.

Strachan said officers were called to the complex at South 256th Street and 27th Place South about 5 p.m. Police found one victim at the complex and the other man several blocks away, it appears he was trying to return home after being shot, Strachan said.

The gunman and the two other men who were with the him fled after the shooting, Strachan said. Witnesses told police that suspects appear to be in their late teens.

Strachan said that the gunfire stemmed from a fight earlier in the day in which the two victims and another man got into an argument with the gunman and the two other men over the stolen PlayStation. During that earlier fight, one man was beaten up and his arm broken, Strachan said.

The three suspects returned to the apartment several hours later and opened fire while attempting to rob the two men who were at the apartment, Strachan said.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com