Seattle Shooting Was Not Random Act, Police Say

Residents left their porch lights on and walked their children to school Thursday in the middle-class neighborhood where a gunman clad in military camouflage clothing killed two boat shop employees and wounded two others before vanishing.

Police called Wednesday’s shooting a “deliberate, calculated act” and tried to reassure residents of the Wallingford district that they are safe, even with the killer at large. Police said they did not know his identity and had not found the handgun used in the attack.

“We are confident this was not a random act,” Police Chief Norm Stamper said. “I think that those who live and work in that area can be assured that they are not at risk. This is not an individual who is going to repeat the act.”

He would not say why police think the attack was not random.

Police were searching around Northlake Shipyard for the man in his 30s who entered the nondescript two-story building, strode into a back office with gun drawn and opened fire without a word.

Peter Giles, 27, and Russell James Brisendine, 43, were killed. The two wounded workers, whose identities were not disclosed, were in serious condition.

The gunman was described as having curly brown hair and a mustache, a baseball cap, sunglasses and a dark overcoat over camouflage clothing.

Police used searchlights through the night as they checked yards, basements and garden sheds. The profusion of porch lights made the neighborhood “so bright you could barely sleep,” said Paula Nemzek.

Nemzek was waiting Thursday with her daughter, Cezanne Camacho, for a school bus half a mile from the shipyard.

Although she usually walks her daughter to the bus stop, she noticed that “a lot of other moms are saying they feel a little worried about letting their kids walk to the bus stop by themselves today.”

Stamper said detectives are sorting through hundreds of tips and “clearly have a better picture” a day after the attack. But he would not say anything about a motive.