Seattle police say 15-year-old arrested in connection with festival shooting had a ghost gun

A police officer puts a bullet casing into a rubber glove after he received it from a person who found it, following a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) 2026-07-28T19:34:47Z SEATTLE (AP) — The 15-year-old arrested after a shootout at food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend was armed with 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 gun from Polymer80 — a now-defunct company that was once a leading manufacturer of ghost gun parts. Investigators also recovered two other weapons and 14 shell casings that had been fired by weapons of two different calibers, he said. There were at least three suspects involved in a shootout at a crowded food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend, police said Monday. One of them was among those killed in the violence. In a document filed in juvenile court in Seattle, police said they believed 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 had earlier said they believed there were two. Ghost guns are privately made firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and are often purchased without a background check. Law enforcement officials say ghost guns have increasingly been used in violent crimes across the U.S.