Police: Suspect admits he was driver in fatal drive-by shooting at Rainier Playfield; $1.1M bail

SEATTLE -- Bail was set at $1.1 million  Wednesday for a 43-year-old Seattle man who police say admitted he was the driver of a SUV involved in a drive-by shooting July 9 that resulted in the death of Shamar Curry, 32, at Seattle's Rainier Playfield.

Detectives on Monday "tracked the suspect down to Puyallup and arrested him with the assistance of the Puyallup Police Department," Seattle police said.

The suspect was arrested without incident. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of murder, police said.

He has not formally been charged yet. Q13 News does not typically identify suspects until they have been charged.

In court documents, police said witnesses to the shooting described the suspect vehicle as a late 1990s green Ford SUV. Puyallup Police made contact with the suspect regarding the description of the SUV.

According to the court documents, "Seattle Homicide Detectives made contact with ... at the Puyallup Police Department and interviewed him. Post Miranda ... (the suspect) provided a statement where he admitted to being the driver of the suspect vehicle in question during the drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of Shamar Curry and the injury of Larry Anderson."



Shamar was one of two men shot on Sunday night, July 9, at the Rainier Playfield. The other man survived. Shamar did not.

The victim's mother, Angie Smith, talked last Wednesday to Q13 News.

She believes Seattle's trouble confronting violence took the life of one of her four children.

“It’s like I lost something and I’ll never be able to find it again,” Angie said.



“This is not a movie. This is reality and this is what happens,” Smith said.

Her reality is shaken now, piercing her semi-retirement in Arizona. On Wednesday, she was able to eke out a smile and a joke of the tough love leaving her son behind.

“I remember he said, ‘Mom, you’re really gonna leave me here?’ And I’m like, you’re a grown man. I’m like, you’re going to be OK. You’ve got family. You’ve got friends,” Angie recalls.

Angie said her son was a fan of the old school band Earth, Wind, and Fire, and had a warm heart, at times brokering peace as kids in the area renewed old grudges.

He had outgrown it and she thinks that may have been why he was hit July 9.

“He wasn’t a target, but as a retaliation against other people,” Angie said.

Police expressed concern there would be be retaliation for his shooting, too. And a couple of nights later, another man was shot to death near the same spot as Shamar. Angie wants that cycle to end. It's taken her boy -- who became a man.

“This city has a stronghold on our youth. And they’re not going to their full potential. They’re not operating with a purpose,” she said