RENTON, Wash. — A 14-year-old and a 16-year-old were arrested following a "crime spree" that began in Renton on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Renton Police Department (RPD).
Officers initially responded to a call from an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old who reported that the passenger in a red sedan had threatened them with a gun near Edmonds Avenue Northeast and Ferndale Avenue Northeast at around 3:50 p.m.
Police learned soon after that a red Hyundai Sonata had just been reported stolen an hour and a half before. Just before the children were threatened, there was a different report of a red car driving erratically along Lake Washington Boulevard.
The King County Sheriff's Office helicopter responded and found the stolen vehicle, tracking it for 17 minutes as it raced through Renton and into Tukwila. The driver exceeded 65 miles per hour and repeatedly crossed over into oncoming traffic, according to RPD, and also blew through multiple red-light intersections.
The driver and the passengers of the car attempted to escape on foot after running into a pole at Southcenter Mall. Officers from the Tukwila Police Department helped RPD find and arrest two of the teen suspects. They were ultimately released to their parents.
"We're working on finding probable cause to charge them," Renton Police Chief Jon Schuldt said. "As we work through the investigation, we anticipate having charges but at that time we couldn't book them into the juvenile youth center."
Renton police wrote in a post on Facebook that "there are very strict rules for booking minors and many times the Youth Detention Center will refuse to accept them based on their criteria," and the department "must then release them to a family member while the case works its way through the judicial process."
Two others, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, evaded arrest.
The Renton Police Department has previously expressed concern about a rise in juvenile crime over the last few years, specifically citing increases in violent and property crime between 2022 and 2023.
Schuldt said the Renton Police Department will do whatever it can to promote public safety, but it hopes to see more accountability and attention paid to this issue.
"Some sort of an incarceration but along with that is getting the social services, mentorship, services to families that they need to be successful when they get out," Schuldt said.
The four teenagers allegedly involved in the assault and carjacking are "well-known to police," according to a press release from RPD.