Three killed, two wounded in shooting at Seattle cafe

A gunman opened fire in a popular Seattle cafe on Wednesday, killing two men and a woman and seriously wounding two other people before fleeing on foot, authorities said.

The late-moing shooting and subsequent disappearance of the suspect prompted a security alert at several nearby Seattle public schools and city-run community centers, as police combed the neighborhood in search of the gunman.

Residents were advised to stay behind closed doors while the gunman remained at large.

Police initially said two men were killed outright in the hail of bullets at the Cafe Racer in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood, and that three other people were seriously wounded. A spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center, where the injured were taken, said later that a woman had died of her wounds.

None of the victims was immediately identified, but local television station KIRO7 reported that some of them may have been musicians.

The man police identified as the suspect in a May 30, 2012 shooting in a north Seattle cafe is pictured in this handout frame grab from a surveillance video camera

In a separate burst of gun violence a short time later in downtown Seattle, a man shot a woman in the head with a handgun during an apparent argument in a parking lot, then fled in a sport utility vehicle, Seattle police said. The hospital spokeswoman, Susan Gregg, told Reuters that woman also died.

Police later found an SUV matching the description of the getaway vehicle, with a handgun visible inside, in a west Seattle neighborhood, but that suspect was gone.

"There has been speculation that this shooting may have been linked to the earlier shooting," Seattle police said in a message posted via Twitter. "At this point, we just don't know. Detectives are exploring every possibility."

Police advised residents living in the vicinity of the cafe to stay inside while authorities conducted their manhunt.

"Area residents should keep their doors and windows locked, and to call police if you find any indications someone has tried to break into your home," the advisory said.

Television news footage from the scene showed police, shotguns drawn, going door-to-door through the quiet residential neighborhood around the cafe.

"It definitely makes me nervous because sometimes we don't always keep the doors locked, the windows locked," resident Artemio Chavez told KIRO7. "He could be hiding anywhere. It could definitely be somewhere around here in this area. You're just kind of on your toes."

Adjacent to Cafe Racer, a man who declined to give his name but who answered the phone at the music store Trading Musician, told Reuters that "at this point, we just don't know anything.

"There's lots of cops everywhere. This is a nice, quaint neighborhood with lots of mom-and-pop shops. It's awful. I probably know some of the people."