Renton Shooting Linked To Recent Drug Busts

RENTON, WA - Local and federal officials announced that police had carried out a series of large drug busts recently - and in the process solved a shooting that happened in Renton in 2017.

According to U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes, police made arrests around Puget Sound in recent months, recovering guns, cash, vehicles, and pounds of drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl. During the investigation, police monitoring wiretaps heard some of the suspects talking about carrying out retaliatory shootings.

One was the September 2017 shooting outside Kazi's Hookah Lounge along Airport Way in Renton. Two men were shot multiple times, but both survived.

Renton police were among dozens of local agencies that assisted with the investigation.

“Over the last four months, more than 80 drug dealing conspirators moving meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl have been taken off our streets where they preyed on destructive addictions and used gun crime to further their trade,” Hayes said in a press release Wednesday. “For more than a year, local police worked with federal partners to build these cases, with the goal of addressing the shifting crime problems in South Sound communities.”

File photo courtesy Redmond police