A 15-year-old boy charged over a deadly mass shooting at Seattle's Bite of Seattle food festival on 26 July says he only opened fire after two unidentified gunmen began shooting at him and a friend, according to court documents filed by his defence attorney. The shooting, which police have described as gang-related, killed three people and wounded four others, including a two-year-old boy, and left festivalgoers fleeing near the Space Needle. The case matters because the teenager remains the only person charged more than a month on, even as police say other gunmen may have been involved, raising questions over how the wider investigation is progressing.

The teen's public defender, Hong Tran, says eyewitnesses confirmed he reached for a handgun from a pouch only after shots were fired nearby, where he had been standing close to one of the victims, 19-year-old Niko-Semo. Prosecutors reject this, arguing he recklessly fired into a crowd of adults and children, and have charged him with first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor, alongside a firearm sentencing enhancement. Seattle police, who have reviewed roughly 450 hours of video, say they have identified two persons of interest but have not established whether they were involved in the shooting, and no further arrests have yet been made.