Multiple people were reported shot in a shootout near 21st and Union Friday afternoon including one person reported dead at a nearby hospital.

Shots rang out along E Union just after 3:00 PM in a chaotic scene involving multiple armed suspects and at least three victims.

UPDATE: Police have confirmed that one person was found dead outside Swedish and two more were taken to Harborview in unknown condition.

Police flooded the area looking for at least one suspect seen fleeing in a vehicle.

Some of the victims were taken by private vehicles to nearby Swedish Cherry Hill where police said one person was reported dead via East Precinct radio.

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Gang and homicide detectives were dispatched to the scene.

Police found shell casings and bullet holes from multiple firearms. A large pool of blood was found near where one of the victims was reportedly loaded into a Lyft vehicle and taken to the hospital.

UPDATE: Here is SPD’s brief on the shooting:

Detectives are investigating after one person was killed and two others were injured Friday in a shooting in the Central District. At 3:15 Friday afternoon, at least one suspect opened fire on a group of victims in the 2100 block of East Union Street. The victims fled the scene and drove to Swedish Hospital – Cherry Hill. One victim was pronounced dead at the hospital, while two others were transported to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Detectives are now reviewing evidence and speaking with witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to call 206-233-5000. SPD’s Gang Unit will continue to conduct emphasis patrols in the Central District and other neighborhoods affected by gun violence.

UPDATE: SPD spokesperson said there has been a gang emphasis patrol underway in the area where Friday’s shooting took place.

“We do actually have a gang emphasis going on in this neighborhood now,” Detective Patrick Michaud said.

Sergeant Sean Whitcomb said recent decisions around safety and street crime clean-ups in downtown and a select set of Seattle neighborhoods haven’t reduced resources for the East Precinct.

“Just so everyone knows, there’s been a lot of discussion about these safety and maintenance emphasis patrols which have a very specific design and strategy,” Whitcomb said Friday. “Separately, the Seattle Police Department is very concerned about gun violence and has been and will continue to do gun violence emphasis with our gang unit in this neighborhood and other neighborhoods affected by gun violence.”

Whitcomb said the gun violence emphasis effort “ebbs and flows as the data shows that we need to do more.”

Video of the full SPD media briefing from the scene is below.

SPD media briefing for E Union shooting https://t.co/BEWE6KxhSx — jseattle (@jseattle) May 10, 2019

UPDATE 5/11/2019 8:57 AM: Two shootings — one along Rainier and the other at 28th and Jackson — sent at least two more people to the hospital overnight.

Police found a man shot in the forearm and hip area bleeding in the parking lot of the church across from Fire Station 6 just after midnight. The shooting scene was found a few blocks away at 28th and Jackson where multiple gunshots were reported and police found shell casings from a possible semi-automatic handgun and blood. Witnesses reported people fleeing the area on foot and at least one group of possible suspects including a gunman last seen in a vehicle speeding from the shooting.

A SPD mobile command unit vehicle and multiple officers were already in the area at the time of the shooting. Seattle Fire responded to where the victim was found across the street and transported him to Harborview.

A possible second victim arrived at Harborview on foot more than 20 minutes after the shooting and told police he had been shot in Tukwila. Police were investigating the man’s story.

Earlier in the night around 11:15 PM, SPD says it responded to a shooting near a house in the 6000 block of 46th Av S just off Rainier Ave S where at least one person was injured.

String of gun violence

Friday’s homicide and the overnight shootings follow a string of gun violence across the Central District and Capitol Hill. Last Friday, May 3rd, a female victim was reportedly hit in the leg in the crossfire of a shootout at the gas station at 23rd and Cherry. The day before that, an early Thursday morning shooting sent a male to Harborview with non life-threatening injuries after a round of gunfire in an alley at 17th and Mercer.

Last week, Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle Police announced a “Pre-Summer Emphasis Program” in seven neighborhoods to try to get ahead of summer street crime and violence. Capitol Hill and the Central District were not included in the plan. Last year, CHS reported on community crime surveying performed by Seattle University on behalf of SPD that revealed how areas like Ballard with lower levels of actual violent incidents reported higher levels of fear about crime while areas like Capitol Hill and the Central District were less fearful.

The 17th Ave E incident was the third time a person had been shot on Capitol Hill in recent weeks. A man was shot in the leg in a Melrose alley Tuesday, April 23rd. Early on April 20th, a male victim suffered a grazing wound after being shot in the head in a shootout in a Pine parking lot.

Recent Central District shootings have included a Saturday night, April 20th shootout that injured one at 23rd and Jackson and an afternoon shootout in the same area earlier that week.

In March on Capitol Hill, a 21-year-old was gunned down in a deadly shooting at the basketball court in Cal Anderson.

In addition to the gang emphasis patrols that SPD says have been underway around the Central District and Pike/Pine, the department says its longterm efforts including social program to curb gun violence are working.

In a presentation to City Council in March prior to the latest rounds of violence, Seattle Police and city officials documented what we know about the city’s shootings and what is being done to prevent them. The Seattle strategies outlined include addressing issues of equity and tackling problems around mental health.

The victims of gun violence are disproportionately young and black — 52% of Seattle shooting victims in 2018 were black.

UPDATE 5/11/19 4:54 PM: Family have identified the victim as 19-year-old Royale Lexing.