21-year-old woman pistol-whipped, beaten, robbed by 4 men in Rainier Beach library

SEATTLE -- A 21-year-old woman who was at the scene of a house shooting and spoke to police about it Monday morning was pistol-whipped, beaten and robbed by four men in the Rainier Beach library later in the day, the Seattle police said Tuesday.

The men confronted the woman just before 5:45 p.m. Monday in the lobby of the Rainier Beach library. One of the suspects clubbed the woman with a handgun, police said. The other three suspects joined in, kicking and punching the woman as she fell to the ground.

A library employee saw the attack and began pounding on a lobby window. The suspects then grabbed the woman’s purse and fled, police said.

After receiving a 911 call, officers rushed to the scene but were unable to find the suspects.

The attack at the library came about 14 hours after police contacted the woman at the scene of shooting early Monday morning. In that incident, police believe the woman was present when an argument at a home in the Rainier View neighborhood spiraled into a shooting, which left one man with life-threatening gunshot wounds.

As medics treated the woman for cuts and bruises sustained in the attack at the library, she told officers she had received several threatening messages on Facebook following the shooting. “You better not let us find you,” one message said, according to the woman.