Police say the weapon was an untraceable ghost gun from a now-defunct manufacturer
A 15-year-old arrested after a shootout at a crowded food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend was carrying a ghost gun with an extended magazine, police said Tuesday. Police Chief Shon Barnes told a news conference that the weapon was a 9 mm pistol manufactured by Polymer80, a now-defunct company that had been a leading supplier of ghost gun components.
The shooting at the festival involved multiple suspects, police have said. In a document filed in juvenile court, investigators said they believe there were at least three shooters: the 15-year-old, an acquaintance who died at the scene, and at least one other unknown suspect. Authorities earlier said they believed there were two shooters.
Barnes said investigators also recovered two other weapons and 14 shell casings that had been fired from two different calibers.
Ghost guns are privately made firearms that lack serial numbers used for tracing and are often purchased without a background check. Law enforcement officials say ghost guns have increasingly been used in violent crimes across the United States.