Detectives are working to determine circumstances leading to a shooting that killed two teenage brothers in Lacey early Friday morning.
According to Lacey Police Department Sgt. Det. Knight, dispatchers received 911 calls around 1:50 a.m. after gunshots were heard just south of Mountain View Elementary School on College Street Southeast.
Officers arrived at the intersection near 24th Avenue SE, where two teenage boys were found deceased in the street. Investigators have confirmed a drive-by shooting occurred.
The deceased have been identified as brothers, one 16 years old and one 17 years old.
Investigators are requesting any video surveillance of the area south of 24th Avenue SE along College Street SE between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. Friday.
Anyone with information about this homicide is encouraged to contact the Lacey Police Department.
The killing of two teenage brothers in a drive-by shooting represents a particularly tragic form of gun violence that raises profound questions about motive, targeting, and the circumstances that led two young lives to end simultaneously on a Lacey street in the early morning hours.
The drive-by shooting method, involving attackers firing from a moving vehicle, typically indicates either targeted violence against specific individuals or reckless gang-related activity where perpetrators discharge weapons indiscriminately in rival territory. The confirmation that this was a drive-by rather than a stationary confrontation suggests the brothers either were specifically targeted by assailants who knew their location or were caught in violence not necessarily directed at them personally.
The fact that both victims were brothers, ages 16 and 17, and were together when killed raises questions about whether they were deliberately targeted as a pair or whether their shared presence at that location and time was coincidental to whatever activities or conflicts led to the shooting. Brothers of similar ages often socialise together, share friend groups, and may become involved in similar activities, whether positive or problematic.
The 1:50 a.m. timing places the shooting during hours when most teenagers would typically be home, raising questions about what circumstances brought the brothers to that location at that hour. Possibilities range from entirely innocent activities like walking home from a friend’s house to involvement in late-night social gatherings to more concerning scenarios involving conflicts or activities that might have placed them at risk.
The location just south of Mountain View Elementary School on College Street Southeast, whilst near a school, likely held no significance related to the educational institution given the early morning timing when the campus would be completely unoccupied. However, the residential and institutional character of the area suggests it was not an isolated industrial location but rather a neighbourhood where witnesses might have heard gunshots or observed suspicious vehicles.
The discovery of both victims in the street rather than in a vehicle or building indicates they were outside when attacked, either walking, standing, or otherwise exposed to the passing vehicle from which shots were fired. The outdoor location in a residential area during the middle of the night creates challenges for investigators seeking witnesses, as most residents would have been asleep and unlikely to observe events leading up to the shooting.
The request for video surveillance between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. indicates investigators are seeking to establish a timeline of events preceding and following the shooting. The hour-long window allows capture of vehicles or individuals moving through the area before the attack, the shooting itself if cameras were positioned appropriately, and suspect vehicles fleeing afterward.
Residential security cameras, business surveillance systems, and traffic cameras in the vicinity may have captured crucial evidence including vehicle descriptions, licence plate numbers, or individuals associated with the shooting. Modern investigations increasingly rely on aggregating footage from multiple sources to reconstruct events and track suspect movements before and after crimes.
