Man shot in back at friends' Kent home

Kent

A Seattle man visiting friends at a Kent apartment complex was shot in the back with a rifle Wednesday afternoon, a Kent police spokesman said.

The victim, 24, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said Officer Paul Petersen. The man was out of surgery and in intensive care in critical condition Thursday evening, Petersen said.

Police expect to identify the suspect soon based on witness reports, Petersen said.

The shooting occurred about 1:10 p.m. at the Bravado on 27th Apartments at 25617 27th Place S.

Witnesses told police that the suspect came to the apartments earlier in the morning, Petersen said.

"They got into an argument with the victim about money owed," he said.

The suspect returned later, continued the argument and shot the victim, Petersen said. The man fled in a large red or maroon older sedan, he said.

King County

Battery stations for cars installed

King County has installed 17 battery-charging stations for plug-in electric cars at park-and-ride lots and will add another 22 outlets by late next year, County Executive Ron Sims reported Wednesday.

Sims' Report on Electric Vehicles also said the county is converting four Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrids to plug-ins and has pledged to buy 430 plug-in hybrids when they become commercially available — something that is expected in 2010 with the scheduled rollout of the Chevy VOLT.

Charging stations have been installed at the Issaquah Highlands and Eastgate park-and-rides, and additional chargers are being built at the Redmond, Burien and Brickyard facilities. The Metropolitan King County Council directed Sims to write a plan to encourage use of plug-in vehicles.

Seattle

USO gala, auction will be held Friday

The USO of Puget Sound, which last year served over 154,000 members of the military, will hold its annual gala and live auction Friday at Qwest Field, Wells Fargo Club.

This USO fundraiser will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will feature country-music star Jake Owens. Items to be auctioned off include a meet-and-greet with the Blue Angels, a VIP trip to the Country Music Awards in Nashville and a luxury condo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

One major service provided by the USO is troop care packages during deployments. Last year the Puget Sound Region provided 11,000 — a 37.5 percent increase over 2006.

Some 250 USO volunteers provided services at the Sea-Tac USO Center, McChord USO Center, the USO Mobile Canteen and other programs in the Puget Sound region.

Learn more about the USO and the auction, at www.usopsa.org or call 206-246-1908.

Lacey

Seabird's status will be reviewed

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it will review the protected status of the marbled murrelet in response to a petition from the timber industry and others.

Several groups, including the American Forest Resource Council and Douglas County, Ore., have asked the agency to remove the bird from the federal list of protected species.

Marbled murrelets nest in old growth timber.

They're found from California to Alaska, but only the population in Washington, Oregon and California is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The 12-month review announced today will likely determine whether the birds should be delisted or whether they also need protection in Alaska.

Kent

Justice center has 2 false alarms

The Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent was threatened twice Wednesday, once with a bomb scare and once with a suspicious white powder. Both were false alarms.

At about 9:30 a.m., a male voice called King 5 TV News's tip line and reported there was a bomb at the complex set to explode at 10 a.m., said Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen.

Several hundred people evacuated, and the connected jail was put on lockdown, said King County Sheriff's Office spokesman Travis DeFries.

Dogs from several agencies searched the building and found nothing, Petersen said. The courthouse reopened at about 11 a.m.

Then, at 2:30 p.m., county mail clerks opened an envelope addressed to the courthouse and found a white powder inside, DeFries said.

Eight people who were near the substance were quarantined in an office, but showed no medical symptoms, he said. The building's air-circulation system was shut down as a precaution, and a Hazmat team retrieved the substance.

Tests found the powder to be a nonhazardous dietary substance. The isolated people were allowed to leave at 5:30 p.m., DeFries said.

Times staff and news services