Renton man found dead in burning car early Friday just off Sunset Blvd. S.W.

UPDATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Renton Police don't know yet whether the shooting was gang related. Also, how the car caught fire isn't known for sure, but likely it started because of the damage caused by the collision and the gunfire. There wasn't an intentional attempt by suspects to set the car on fire, according to police.

A 26-year-old Renton man was found dead in a burning car at about 1 a.m. Friday morning just off Sunset Boulevard Southwest, according to the Renton Police Department.

His name has yet to be released. The King County medical examiner will make a positive identification and determine cause of death.

As of mid-morning Friday, no suspects were being name. The Renton man also was a victim of shooting in May.

Detectives were developing suspects and doing a background on the victim – "who might have a reason to dislike him," said Detective Robert Onishi, a spokesman for the Police Department.

Investigators spent several hours overnight collecting evidence at the Crestview Apartments in the 300 block of Sunset Boulevard Southwest and in a pulloff just below the apartment complex where the car burned.

Numerous 911 calls were received at 12:48 a.m. Friday of gunfire on Sunset Boulevard, not far from Rainier Avenue.

Multiple shots were fired at and into the car in the apartment parking lot, and the car then rolled over a low curb and down the embankment, according to Onishi.

"The first officer to arrive found that a car had rolled down an embankment at the apartment complex there, and as he approached, the revving car burst into flames," Onishi said in a press release.

"The officer saw a single occupant in the car, but was unable to reach him due to the fire," he said

The shots were fired less than 30 feet from where Lynn E. Evans was still awake inside his apartment, where he has lived for eight years.

He didn't see the shooting, but he heard seven or eight shots, then "rapid-fire" gunshots at about 12:45 a.m.

"It had to be semi-automatic," said Evans, a Vietnam war veteran. "I know what weapons sound like."

The victim is not a resident of the apartment complex, he said.

The spot where the victim's car was fired upon is used as a place to turn around or as a hiding spot, Evans said.

Investigators are asking that anyone with information regarding this homicide call 911 or contact the Renton Police Department at 425-430-7500 and refer to Renton Police case 12-7546.

Contact Renton Reporter Editor Dean Radford at editor@rentonreporter.com or 1-425-255-3484 (ext 5050).

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