4 of 7 teens who escaped a juvenile detention center remain at large

SEATTLE (AP) — Law enforcement officials continued their search Monday for four of seven teens who escaped from a juvenile detention center after assaulting a staff member and stealing her car.

The seven teens, ages 15 to 17, escaped from the Echo Glen Children’s Center campus in Snoqualmie just after midnight Sunday, according to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families, which runs the facility.

The King County Sheriff’s Office apprehended three of the teens on Sunday afternoon in the city of Burien — about 35 miles west of the center (56 kilometers), the agency said on Twitter. Officials later recovered the stolen car, but four of the teens remained missing, officials said.

Echo Glen is a medium-maximum security facility and houses the department’s youngest Juvenile Rehabilitation population up to the age of 17.

The staff member was doing routine night-shift checks when she was assaulted, the department said. They activated the Juvenile Rehabilitation Critical Incident Response Team to review the incident to see if protocols were followed.