Shootings rock Lake Sammamish State Park
July 20, 2010
By Warren Kagarise
In the fading summer light, some picnickers and parkgoers thought the pops echoing through Lake Sammamish State Park on July 17 sounded like fireworks.
But seconds later, the crowd unwinding at the packed Issaquah park recognized the pops as something else: gunfire.
The shootings occurred at the picnic area near Tibetts Beach. Sammamish Review graphics
The shooting at a picnic area near the lakefront left two men dead and four others injured after gunshots shattered the summer Saturday evening. The shootings occurred at about 9 p.m. — just as dusk settled over the lakefront park and visitors started to load coolers and lawn chairs into car trunks.
Chaos ensued in the moments after the shootings, as parkgoers scrambled for cover in vehicles and park buildings, including a restroom with a person barricaded inside.
By the time the shooting stopped, a 30-year-old Seattle man, Justin Cunningham, and a 33-year-old Kent man, Yang Keovongphet, had been killed. The gunfire injured another four people, three men and a juvenile male.
The shootout stemmed from a dispute between rival groups picnicking in the park — a coincidence, police said. The groups set up in different areas near Tibbetts Beach, a popular lakeside destination. The first group of parkgoers sipped beer and fired up grills for a picnic. The other group celebrated a birthday about 200 feet away.
Investigators said several people in both groups had gang connections. Many had brought guns to the crowded park.
Members from one group approached the other gathering at about 9 p.m. and taunted members of the other group. The insults escalated into a fistfight. Someone pulled out a gun and fired a warning shot into the air.
“Then all hell broke loose,” King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said after the shootings.
Local law enforcement agencies received several 911 calls from terrified people inside the park, and a gunshot could be heard in the background as a park ranger called the Washington State Patrol to report the incident, Trooper Cliff Pratt said.
Police cruisers from four agencies — the state patrol, sheriff’s office and police departments from Issaquah and Bellevue — raced through the park gates moments later. Issaquah Officer Tom Griffith, on patrol in another part of the park, headed to the scene after hearing gunshots.
Issaquah officers helped secure the scene in the frantic moments after the gun battle. Police Chief Paul Ayers said they detained some people for questioning and performed first aid on one of the wounded men. Medics transported the injured men to hospitals in Seattle and Bellevue.
Though police detained a half-dozen people at the park, no arrests had been made by July 19. The cause also remained elusive in the days after the shootings.
“It could be as simple as a gang rivalry, but we don’t know that for a fact,” Urquhart said.
Under lockdown
Police cordoned off Northwest Sammamish Road as flashing lights from emergency vehicles blazed in the darkness. The lockdown stranded more than 100 people scattered at beaches and picnic areas inside the park. The parkgoers had nothing to do but wait.
Dawn Hilliker and her teenage sons were attending a high school graduation party for a family friend before gunfire erupted elsewhere in the park. Through the greenbelt separating the picnic areas, the shots sounded like fireworks.
Hilliker had been packing her car as police descended on the park. The incident marred a day spent gathering around a roasted pig and watching friends perform skits.
Hilliker said she did not feel unsafe in the hours after the shootings, as police searched the park for suspects and evidence.
“It was under control the entire time, so there really wasn’t a cause for concern,” she said.
Traffic started to trickle out of the park just before 11 p.m. as police searched some vehicles and gathered information from every driver. The lockdown kept the Hillikers at the park until almost midnight.
Hilliker said the incident made her hesitant to return to Lake Sammamish State Park.
“Will I go again? Probably not,” she said the day after the shootings. “Would I take my family there again? Definitely not.”
Elusive clues
Investigators combed the park for evidence at the closed park the day after the shootings. The sheriff’s office had about 40 people scouring the park — at times on their hands and knees — in the picnic area and nearby brush. The team also included sheriff’s office and Seattle Police Department bomb-sniffing dogs brought in to detect spent cartridges. The sheriff’s office helicopter — Guardian One — thudded in the air above the park.
Though the cause remained unknown, early indicators point to bad blood between rival gangs as a possible cause. The trigger for the argument before the gun battle also eluded investigators, though detectives continued to interview group members and witnesses.
Urquhart said alcohol could have been a factor in the incident. Both groups brought “lots of beer” to the park, he said.
Rules allow alcohol in designated areas of some state parks, including the now-bullet-scarred picnic area at Lake Sammamish State Park.
The rival groups — including the shooting victims, friends, family members and children — included many members of Asian descent, though police described Cunningham, the Seattle man killed in the gun battle, as white. Investigators believe he shot Keovongphet before another participant killed him.
Sandy Mealing, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, said the shootings marked the first such incident to occur in a state park in recent memory.
Lake Sammamish State Park employees met with a ranger trained in counseling and a psychologist contracted by the agency to aid park employees after tragedies.
“We’re all doing OK,” Park Manager Richard Benson said. “I wasn’t directly involved until a few minutes later, so I feel a little less impacted by it than those that were directly involved. It’s quite different when you’re there and your adrenaline is pumping and emotions are going.”
Employees — including the rangers on duty July 17 — reported for work the next day to assist investigators and to conduct routine maintenance.
“Some of our other park staff, they were there as it occurred and they are all dealing with it as expected,” Benson added.
The state parks agency defers to local law enforcement in criminal cases. The park reopened to the public at 6:30 a.m. July 19.
Regulations allow firearms in Lake Sammamish and other state parks, as long as the owner has a concealed-weapons permit and obeys park rules. Discharging a firearm is prohibited in state parks.
The shootings also raised concerns about gang violence — a creeping problem in Seattle — reaching beyond the city to the Eastside. Ayers, the Issaquah police chief, assuaged concerns about possible gang activity in the usually quiet city.
“We have not had any gang-type activity,” he said. “It certainly could be the case, but they haven’t reached that conclusion yet.”
Reach reporter Warren Kagarise at 392-6434, ext. 234, or wkagarise@isspress.com. Reporter Chantelle Lusebrink contributed to this report.
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