Police seek suspect in Dec. 11 double shooting

An early-afternoon shooting near Fifth Street and Warren Avenue in downtown Bremerton Tuesday left two men injured and police seeking their assailant.

The double shooting happened at 12:35 p.m. Dec. 11 and police are searching for a suspect they describe as a light brown-skinned male, wearing blue nylon warm-up pants and a dark, hooded sweat shirt.

According to Bremerton Police Det. Robbie Davis, because the suspect had his face mostly covered, his age or nationality is unknown. Davis described the suspect as 5 feet 6 or 7 inches tall with a “skinny” frame.

The most seriously injured victim was Torrence Waite, 20, of Bremerton. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to undergo surgery for multiple gunshot wounds in the upper body. His condition was listed as serious on Thursday, Dec. 13. Police still have not received permission from doctors to interview him.

The second victim was Richard McMullen, 19, also of Bremerton. His forearm wound was treated at Harrison Hospital and he was later released. McMullen claimed not to know his assailant.

“At this point we don’t have a motive for what happened,” Davis said. “I’m not going to elaborate.”

Davis did confirm Bremerton Police officers had previous contact with the two victims.

According to Davis, the shooting came as the three men apparently walked between two houses in the 1000 block of Fifth Street.

The shooter used a small, silver-colored handgun, Davis said. Both men were conscious at the scene of the crime as they were loaded into ambulances.

The shooting came at a busy intersection, made even busier by the fact that many PSNS workers were on their noon-hour break.

Bremerton Police descended on the scene which was immediately cordoned off by crime-scene tape.

Scores of area residents and employees of the KPS Building at Fifth Street and Warren Avenue watched from surrounding sidewalks as emergency medical personnel tended to the two injured men. Detectives immediately began interviewing onlookers, but no one said they witnessed the shooting.

A black late-model car was cordoned off with crime tape after police noticed two bullet holes in it.

BPD tracking dog Quasar was brought in to pick up the scent of the suspect on the Fifth Street alleyway. But Davis said the dog was unable to track beyond the intersection of Burwell Street and Warren Avenue.

Davis said the three BPD detectives working the case had collected “a fair amount of evidence” at the scene, but wouldn’t comment on how close officers were to solving the case.

“I’m confident I can solve all of them, but you never know,” Davis said. “I will say this, it’s not unsolvable.”

Information about the case should be phoned to Detective Robbie Davis at (360) 478-5361.

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