4 shot near Pike Place Market

A fight at Victor Steinbrueck Park led to a shooting that sent four men to the hospital early Sunday evening as tourists and onlookers took cover near Pike Place Market.

The men are expected to survive. Police made no arrests and were still searching for suspects Sunday night.

Police and witnesses said two groups of men, some of whom were believed to be transients hanging out in the park next to the Market, began arguing about 6 p.m. It was not clear what started the argument.

"They had knives and it was pretty chaotic," said Clint Caneen, who was in the park at the time the altercation broke out. "They were really, really going at each other."

The fight calmed somewhat, but a man on a bicycle continued to confront the other fighters going west on Western Avenue, according to witnesses.

Police said the four men were shot in their legs or feet near the corner of Blanchard Street and Western Avenue.

Officers were searching for a suspect seen running toward the waterfront, and also were looking for a black Honda that might be connected to the shooting.

Steinbrueck Park has been part of Seattle's most crime-ridden census tract since 1985.

A City Council vote earlier this month approved $850,000 for security cameras in the park and three other parks.