T’Shawn Bennett, a 31-year-old male, went to Valley Ridge Park in SeaTac on the evening of July 27, 2021, when summer light still hung over the basketball courts beside Tyee High School. Around 8:30 p.m., witnesses saw a man walk up to Bennett on the court and open fire, striking him multiple times before turning and leaving as people scattered for cover. Deputies and medics converged on the park, but Bennett could not be saved.
The King County Medical Examiner later listed his death on that date, and memorial pages recorded the loss of a 31-year-old whose name would spread quickly through local headlines and vigils.
Investigators canvassed the courts and surrounding fields for shell casings and security video, interviewing those who had watched the shooting unfold in the middle of a public park. Accounts were consistent: the shooter targeted Bennett at close range, then escaped the area, leaving behind a stunned crowd and a crime scene ringed with police tape. The location, the time, and the abruptness of the attack formed the backbone of the early case narrative as detectives appealed for tips and reviewed surveillance from the community center and nearby streets.
In the days that followed, the King County Sheriff’s Office described an active search for the gunman. News outlets reported no arrests and no public identification of a suspect, only that detectives believed the assailant fled immediately after the shooting. Database entries and public memorial listings for Bennett confirm the date and place of the killing but contain no record of a subsequent arrest connected to his case. As of the available reporting, authorities had not announced charges or named a suspect, and the homicide remained one of the region’s unresolved acts of gun violence from that summer.
