Kent Police members of the Valley SWAT team were on emphasis patrols during the weekend of May 5 to help deter any potential gang-related violence following the shooting deaths of two Kent victims last month.
Four people were arrested during the patrol emphasis May 5 through 8, said police spokesman Jarod Kasner in an email. Two were arrested for misdemeanor warrants, one for obstructing an officer and unlawful conduct on transit property. Police cited another person at large for a trespass violation.
“Our emphasis was citywide,” Kasner said. “There were also four separate notice of infractions issued, numerous Terry stops, social contacts and traffic emphasis was also conducted.”
A Terry stop is a brief detention of a person by police on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity but short of probable cause to arrest.
Police used the SWAT unit to provide high visibility, high impact and criminal enforcement patrol in areas of possible gang violence, according to a police report about the patrols. SWAT officers worked several 12-hour shifts during the emphasis.
The shootings include:
• April 18, Roberto Matamoros-Izaguirre, 17, of Kent, was killed at a service station at West Meeker Street and 64th Avenue South. The shooters also injured a 16-year-old boy had been involved in another shooting the previous week. He was not injured in the first shooting but his friend was. No arrests have been made in either incident, and police believe the shootings are gang related.
• April 11: Arturo Marcial-Alvarez, 19, of Kent was killed in a drive-by shooting in Federal Way along Pacific Highway South. Police later arrested suspects from Kent, Burien and Seattle, with one of them as young as 15 years old. Investigators believe the suspects are in a rival gang and that they killed the victim in retaliation.
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