Naked suspect caught by cops after shooting, crash linked to 'Tuba Man' slaying in 2008

SEATTLE — A wanted suspect who was shot but later fled on foot from a Seattle hospital in the nude was back in custody and authorities on Friday have identified him as Billy G. Chambers, the same man who was convicted as a teen a decade ago in the slaying of a beloved Seattle street performer known as Tuba Man.

Chambers, 29, was in court Friday for a preliminary hearing and is expected to face a first-degree unlawful gun possession charge, according to a spokesman for the King County Prosecutors' Office. He was being held at the King County Jail. It was not immediately clear if bond has been set yet in the case.

The gun possession charge is related to an incident Thursday afternoon in which nearly two dozen bullets were fired that left Chambers wounded before he was involved in a two-car crash that occurred during the melee.

Chambers was treated for a non-life-threatening leg injury at Harborview Medical Center, police said in a written statement. He was expected to be transferred to the South Correctional Entity jail in Des Moines in connection with an outstanding warrant.

Seattle police did not say if the suspect will face charges in connection with the car crash or the shooting that left him wounded.

According to the police statement, callers dialed 911 at 3:30 p.m. to report gunfire near 27th Avenue and E. Spring Street.

When police arrived, they found 20 shell casings at the scene along with bystanders who said there were several cars that fled from the scene after the shooting, including a red BMW.

Investigators said they also found two guns at the scene.

Investigators said a few minutes later police officers were called to 17th Avenue and E. Madison Street for a crash involving the BMW and another vehicle.

Police said the driver of the vehicle stayed at the scene and spoke to police, who were told that the BMW's driver informed witnesses at that second scene that he had been shot.

A third car arrived at the crash scene and picked up the BMW's driver, who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the leg.

Police went to the hospital to interview the gunshot victim, who initially lied about his identity and then ran from the hospital wearing just a hospital gown. Police later found the man hiding in a nearby dumpster and was fully nude.

A passerby flagged down officers to alert them about the naked man running down the street, which is how police found him.

In 2008, Chambers was with two other teens who were convicted in the October 2008 attack on Edward McMichael, a well-known street musician known as the "Tuba Man" who'd long been a fixture at Seattle sporting events.

McMichael, 53, died from his injuries after being released from the hospital.

After prosecutors found themselves unable to find witnesses and a juvenile court judge refused try the boys as adults, Chambers, then 15, and the other teens pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to short terms in juvenile detention.

Since McMichael's death, Chambers has been convicted of felony theft and attempted felony assault, the latter from a June 2011 incident during which he rammed a woman's car at a Seattle stoplight.

Chambers was sentenced to 22 months in prison and was released from Department of Corrections supervision three months before his Oct. 3 arrest that prompted the new federal charges.