Suspect in Northgate shooting had been kicked out of nearby campsite

The 31-year-old man arrested in connection with Friday night's shooting spree near North Seattle Community College is a former student who had set up a campsite near the campus before being asked to leave, according to a college spokeswoman.

From fall 2007 until earlier this year the man took engineering courses in the industrial power and control program, said Carol Summers, spokeswoman for the school.

On Wednesday, campus security officers found the man in a wooded area adjacent to the college setting up some sort of encampment, Summers said. Officers asked the man to leave and he seemed compliant and wasn't quarrelsome, Summers said.

When officers returned the area hours later the man was gone.

Summers said the wooded area is often checked by campus security because it has been a popular spot for transients. Security officers regularly issue trespass warnings and tell people camping there to move out, Summers said.

The suspect was ordered held on $500,000 bail during a brief hearing at the King County Jail this afternoon. The man was arrested for investigation of illegal weapons possession.

"The defendant's behavior constitutes a grave danger to any member of society," said King County District Court Judge Elizabeth Stephenson said in court.

King County prosecutors said that they intend to charge the man this week. He has previously served prison time for robbing a convenience store, prosecutors said.

Police were called to North Seattle Community College, located near I-5 and the Northgate Mall, around 9:30 p.m. Friday for reports of gunfire. When officers arrived they heard up to 10 rapid rifle shots from a wooded area at the corner of campus, according to a Seattle police report included in court paperwork.

More officers, tracking dogs, a SWAT team and a King County Sheriff's Office helicopter were called in to assist in the search for the gunman. Police said that one man who was in the woods when the shots were fired identified the gunman and said that the man was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, the police report said.

The first man was arrested for investigation of obstruction. Police do not believe the man was responsible for the gunfire.

Ruth Bowman, spokeswoman for Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr, said that their office has declined to file an obstruction charge today. She said that police didn't provide enough evidence to tie the man to the alleged gunman's actions.

He was expected to be released today.

Around 12:30 a.m., the alleged gunman was arrested after SWAT officers had used a loudspeaker and chemicals in an attempt to drive him out of the woods, the report said. When questioned, the gunman declined to say what he had been shooting at, police said.

After the shootings, police and tracking dogs searched the wooded area near the campus and found "a military-style encampment" in the woods, the police report said. Officers found ammunition, a sword, "pieces" of rifles and camouflage netting, the report said.

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