New Year's Eve party ends with 2 dead, 1 injured

RENTON -- It was a deadly start to the New Year in Renton after several people exchanged gunfire at a party. Two were killed and another was injured.

One of the suspects took off and is still on the loose.

Up to 20 people were at the party -- and police now have the difficult task of trying to piece together all their stories.

The deadly shooting happened outside a home in the 11500 block of 161st Avenue SE.

Q13 FOX News saw at least three cars outside the home riddled with bullets.



Geri Kester said she got a frantic phone call from her son at the party.

“He says, 'Mom, you need to come get me, my friend was shot.' And I jumped out of bed and we rushed here,” Kester said.

She said her son was partying with close-knit friends. And detectives said an uninvited group crashed the party.

“I wouldn’t characterize this as a party that got out of control that we sometimes have,” King County sheriff’s spokeswoman DB Gates said.

But the trouble started after the party-goers asked the group to leave.

“They asked them to leave; they left but they came back,” Bob Newman said.

Detectives say the suspects returned and started shooting at the people at the party who then returned fire.

“My son was really upset because these kids have grown up together for 20 years,” Kester said.

Newman says it was the father of the girl renting the house who was shot and killed after he asked the group to leave.

“She is a sweetheart of a gal and that was her father; he was very docile, nice guy,” Newman said.

Authorities say one of the suspects was killed in the exchange. Another man was also shot and rushed to the hospital but later released.

“Twenty people see 20 different things so we are trying to narrow down the focus of who we are looking for at this point,” Gates said.