An Auburn man tried to end a dispute with another man by firing a shot in a busy Auburn parking lot in the late afternoon of April 26, police say.
According to Auburn Police, the man fired a single shot in the direction of the Boeing Employees Credit Union, but no one was hurt. Police soon caught up with and arrested the man.
On April 29, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged 29-year-old David A. Snyder, of Auburn, with one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Snyder, who has no known criminal history in Washington state, does have prior convictions in Florida and North Carolina, including one for burglary.
“The facts of this case present a serious threat to community safety,” Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Susan Hunsinger told the bail court. “Not only was the defendant unlawfully in possession of a firearm, but he allegedly fired it in the presence of several people at a bank. The defendant’s conduct demonstrates a likelihood of committing a violent offense if released.”
Snyder’s arraignment is 9 a.m. Friday, May 13 in the GA courtroom of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
According to Auburn Police:
At 5:49 p.m. April 26, two people called 911 to alert police to gunfire in the BECU parking lot near the 200 block of 10th Street NE.
At the scene, one of the witnesses told police he’d been parked in the BECU lot when he saw a man — who he later positively identified as Snyder — arrive on an electric scooter and walk in front of his vehicle.
When a tan van arrived, the witness said, he saw the man drop the scooter as a second man got out the van carrying a baseball bat. The two men got into a dispute, and the witness told police that he allegedly saw Snyder remove a gun from behind his back and heard a single gunshot.
The witness told police he had just started training with firearms, knew what he’d seen and knew the sound of a gunshot. According to police, his description of the man’s weapon appeared to match a Glock 17 9mm.
The second caller told police she was driving north through the parking lot when she heard a pop, looked up and saw a man pointing a gun at another man. She said she saw the shooter allegedly put a gun into his waistband and run south toward the Fred Meyer parking lot. Her description of the weapon matched that of the first witness except with respect to the size of the handle.
Police found a third witness, a woman who’d been sitting in her car, looking at her phone about five parking slots from BECU’s front doors when she heard a gunshot. She looked up and saw a man dressed all in black, pointing a gun.
She told police the man looked directly at her, then allegedly placed the gun in his waistband and ran off southward in the direction of Fred Meyer Complex at 801 Auburn Way North. In front of her vehicle, police later found a spent shell casing.
According to the police report, police caught up with Snyder in the 500 block of A Street Northwest and allegedly found a gun on him with a live round chambered. He was cooperative, but declined to speak with officers, police reported.
According to Hunsinger, Snyder has only been in Washington for six months, but given his out-of-state history and lack of connections in Washington, she said, the state is concerned that he is a flight risk and will fail to appear for court on summons alone.
In addition to bail in the amount of $100,000.00, Hunsinger asked the court to impose the following conditions:
No possession of firearms;
No leaving the State of Washington without prior approval by court order; and
Maintain contact with counsel.
