Seattle Cafe Killings Suspect Shoots Self; Also Blamed in Separate Killing

After 3 dead, 2 wounded at cafe; one more killed in second shooting.

ByABC News
May 30, 2012, 2:33 PM

May 30, 2012— -- The man who opened fire and killed three people at a Seattle café as officers closed in on him after a citywide manhunt has killed himself, his father confirmed.

Ian Stawicki died at 6 p.m. PT, his father Walt Stawicki confirmed to ABC News late Wednesday.

Police say Ian Stawicki killed a fourth person during a subsequent confrontation on Wednesday after the shootings began at approximately 11 a.m. PST, when he opened fire at Cafe Racer Espresso in Seattle's University District.

Two victims, both male, died at the scene. Two others died later at Harborview Medical Center.

People who were brought to the hospital had suffered gunshot wounds to the head, according to Susan Gregg, a hospital spokeswoman.

It was unclear what prompted the cafe shooting.

The shooting set off a massive manhunt through Seattle on Tuesday. Earlier in the day Seattle police had tweeted that the suspect "is still alive and receiving treatment at Harborview Medical Center."

The second shooting incident occurred in downtown Seattle, about a 15-minute drive from the cafe.

"It appears that about 30 minutes after the shooting at the cafe, the suspect in the cafe shooting fled to First Hill, where he fatally shot a woman in a parking lot, and stole her SUV," police wrote in a blog post on the shootings.

The area where the suspect shot himself was about seven miles southwest of downtown Seattle -- about a mile to a mile and a half from where the suspect's stolen SUV was found abandoned with a gun on the seat, according to police.

During a search of the area, a detective spotted the suspect on the street and started watching him, police said. When back-up officers arrived and started moving toward the man, he turned to the officers and the officers ordered him to drop his weapon.

Instead, the suspect put a firearm to his head and pulled the trigger, firing one shot, and immediately dropped to the ground.

"Based on evidence recovered during today's investigations, SPD believes a lone suspect is responsible for the murders in Roosevelt and First Hill," police said in the blog post. "Still, neighbors should expect to see a heightened police presence as detectives work to confirm links between the two tragic incidents."

The initial shootings at the cafe spurred a massive manhunt. Police scoured the surrounding area for the suspect and warned people in the area to be on the alert.

"We are asking folks to be on guard and not to open their doors to anybody they don't know," Seattle Deputy Police Chief Nick Metz told KOMO-TV.

Roosevelt High School, which is near the cafe, was put on lockdown while police armed with rifles continued to search the area.

Two other nearby schools, Greenwood Elementary School and Eckstein Middle School, were put on a modified lockdown, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

No one answered the phone at Cafe Racer. A recorded message urged callers to "remember to come visit us, where we keep safety third."

"We've had two tragic shootings today that have shaken this city," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn told reporters.

He said he has asked police to find ways to end the gun violence.

"It's their highest priority to identify the strategies we need to employ to try to bring an end to this wave of gun violence that this city is seeing," he said.

ABC News' John Capell and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.