Elijah-King Leven was a 17-year-old male from Seattle who was shot late on May 29, 2026, inside an apartment at the Willow Crossing Apartments in South Seattle’s Rainier Valley. Police were dispatched shortly before 11:30 p.m.; medics took him to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition and he died from his injuries on May 31. Investigators recovered a Smith & Wesson .45-caliber handgun and a spent cartridge casing from a bedroom where Elijah-King was found.

Initial reports described the shooting as possibly accidental or self-inflicted after a 911 caller said a teenager had been playing with a gun when it fired. That account shifted after the victim’s relative, a 13-year-old boy described as Elijah-King’s cousin, allegedly told his mother he had been manipulating the gun when it discharged. Security footage reportedly shows the 13-year-old arriving with Elijah-King and running from a stairwell minutes after the shot.

Seattle police took the 13-year-old into custody on June 4; prosecutors charged him in juvenile court on June 9 with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. A judge ordered him held in secure detention pending further proceedings; he was due back in court on July 10. If anyone knew Elijah-King or has information about what happened at the Willow Crossing Apartments on May 29, please come forward with tips.