Youth surrenders in Walmart shooting. Residents asked to resist judgment on gang involvement

A 16-year-old Mount Vernon juvenile was booked into Skagit County Juvenile Detention late Sunday evening, July 24, after turning himself in for his involvement in an earlier shooting at Walmart that injured five people, according to Mount Vernon police.

The court granted investigators a 30-day magistrates warrant Monday, July 25, to hold the youth while they reconstruct events “from witness accounts, physical evidence, scene reconstruction, video footage, tip call-ins and more,” according to Police Chief Chris Cammock in a Monday news release.

Investigators initially determined that three male juvenile gang members had a confrontation with rival gang members in the store, according to an earlier police news release.

Cammock asked in the Monday news release that residents resist quick judgments about “whether the gang involvement in this case reflects the quality of life we expect in Mount Vernon and Skagit County.”

The Sunday arrest follows one Friday, July 22, of another youth who surrendered and was booked on five counts of 1st-degree assault after warrants were served at two locations in Mount Vernon, Lt. Mike Moore wrote in a news release, according to earlier reporting in The Bellingham Herald.

A 72-year-old male customer and a 24-year-old male employee of the store, along with a 19-year-old man suspected to be involved in the incident, were taken to Harborview Medical Center for further treatment for their injuries.

Officers were called at approximately 9:50 p.m. July 17, to the Walmart in the 2300 block of Freeway Drive for a report that there had been shots fired inside the building, according to police. The store is located approximately 30 miles south of Bellingham.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information that would assist investigators are asked to call the 24-hour dispatch number 360-428-3211 or during business hours call Mount Vernon Police at 360-336-6271.