Update: Police search for assault suspect in High Point

(WSB cameraphone photo added 4:33 pm)
FIRST REPORT AT 3:58 PM: Thanks for the tips on the “multiple medic response/14” at Lanham/Morgan – which usually means an incident with multiple victims. On our way. 4:10 PM UPDATE: Police at the scene referred us to the SPD Media Unit, which tells us they received a report of an assault about half an hour ago. A 16-year-old boy had been assaulted at a basketball court by the High Point Neighborhood Center/Commons Park; “a large crowd had gathered, was not being cooperative with officers,” Officer Renee Witt says. They are still looking for the suspect, who was said to have punched the victim and then walked away; only description, a red shirt. Despite the Medic 14 dispatch, Officer Witt says only one victim is reported – but she also stresses, this is “very preliminary information.” (Neighborhood Center will be the scene of a community meeting coming up at 6 pm, to discuss last week’s stabbing nearby; police were invited, as well as neighborhood leaders and community members.) ADDED 4:20 PM: Seattle Fire spokesperson Helen Fitzpatrick confirms only one patient was transported to the hospital, but doesn’t have any condition info. The scene is mostly clear now.

28 Replies to "Update: Police search for assault suspect in High Point"

  • Ken April 29, 2010 (4:14 pm)

    address must be approximate. I can see the intersection and traffic seems normal, no lights, one cop car turning around.

    14 per rule still not closed though.
    http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/realtime911/getRecsForDatePub.asp?action=Today&incDate=&rad1=des

    • WSB April 29, 2010 (4:29 pm)

      Ken – that confused us upon arrival too but turned out to be (as you will see in our photo in a moment) behind the building. No evidence of fire on scene so not sure why they haven’t closed the call, but the 911 log isn’t always precise – a fire in a building can have the humongous dispatch, then all but one engine is code-greened, yet it still shows all the original dispatch till EVERYONE is gone … TR

  • nuni April 29, 2010 (4:26 pm)

    A red shirt? BIG SURPRISE. They were probably ALL wearing red shirts.

  • Jacob April 29, 2010 (4:26 pm)

    Such a vibrant and diverse neighborhood…

    Hope the kid is OK.

  • jr April 29, 2010 (4:50 pm)

    ‘Were not cooperative with officers’ big surprise there.

  • CMeagh April 29, 2010 (6:11 pm)

    I hope the victim is alright. I am having a tough time believing that they were just playing basketball and this happened.

  • alki_2008 April 29, 2010 (6:25 pm)

    Did someone say they were actually playing basketball, or just that they were AT a basketball court?

  • Silly Goose April 29, 2010 (6:38 pm)

    I wondedered what the helicopter was for!! Really too bad I was really hoping this area would become new and improved!!

  • Dena April 29, 2010 (7:03 pm)

    Unless they jumped the fence they weren’t playing basketball on the court at the Neighborhood Center because they keep it locked. Heard the helicopter was used to transport the victim to the hospital.

  • dmc April 29, 2010 (7:43 pm)

    Here is to hoping that the kid is ok. And that High Point can get past of this crap. Sending good thoughts.

  • wssort April 29, 2010 (8:03 pm)

    Word is that “punch” nearly put the kid in a coma, and the victim is again Somali and the perp some red shirt wearing gangster. Not surprised no snitchers.

    • WSB April 29, 2010 (8:08 pm)

      Wssort, I don’t know if you are here at the HP meeting … it was said here that the boy was badly beaten and that he is Somali. We will be writing the full report of this afterward – it will be a better way to try to make some sense of it than an in-progress report …

  • Tom April 29, 2010 (8:52 pm)

    Thanks for the thorough description – red shirt. Really helps. Can it get anymore dangerous around here?

  • Gerard April 29, 2010 (8:54 pm)

    It just gets better and better.

  • smoothbob April 29, 2010 (9:35 pm)

    I am pretty darn sure that, if a victim is transported by a medic unit, the call will remain “open” until the medic unit clears HMC or another facility and is back in service.

    • WSB April 29, 2010 (9:37 pm)

      You sound like someone who knows that of which they speak. Would make sense in this case because no SFD unit remained on the scene by the time we got there, yet it was still open on 911 live log for another 45 mins at least.

  • D.J. April 29, 2010 (10:32 pm)

    That is correct if a Seattle Fire unit transports the call remains open on the 911 log until they go in service after dropping the patient off at the hospital.

  • smoothbob April 29, 2010 (10:43 pm)

    I am glad DJ confirmed this for us. I know EMS, but am no expert on SFD protocol.

    If you consider the time it can take to write a report, replace equipment and clean an ambulance- especially after a trauma call-the call can remain open for some time.

  • HolyKow April 30, 2010 (9:10 am)

    I saw a cop flip a u-eee in the middle of the road, black, unmarked, as I was driving home from work. There were at least 4 regular blues and the 1 black unmarked hawkin this area and more on the way in just as I drove thru from Home Depot to the Ghetto Mart.

    It is not a crime to wear a red shirt, but when you see 10 guys wearing red shirts, half’azz hangin’ out baggie jeans and red flat brim, off center brim red baseball hats all sauntering that ‘gangsta lean’ walk that the bangers do, it should make your spidey senses start to tingle.

    There is a great deal of gang activity here. It bedevils the good people that live in this neighborhood. The cops should lean on these guys in any and all ways that they legally can and make them wanna go away.

    HK

  • Rick April 30, 2010 (9:58 am)

    Just play Barry Manilow music on loudspeakers. The problem will move to someone else’s neighborhood.

  • hp April 30, 2010 (11:22 am)

    Here is the true story guys, these incidents started at Chief Sealth HS. The African Americans (black) are targeting the Somali kids. WHat the police needs to do is control that situatuion, because of now its just too much. It’s getting way out of hand, pretty soon there will be more fights, more stabbing, and more shooting. THE POLICE MUST INTERVENE NOW

  • guinivere April 30, 2010 (3:27 pm)

    I am a High Point resident. I love living here and these are my friends and neighbors. These are people just like you and me! This is very real for me. I am so tired of hearing armchair, snarky comments and stirring of the pot.

    Nuni – “red shirt”, “big surprise” “PROBABLY all wearing red”
    jr – were not cooperative “big surprise”
    cmeagh – “tough time believing they were just playing basket ball”
    wwsort Word is that “punch” nearly put the kid in a coma, and the victim is again Somali and the perp some red shirt wearing gangster. Not surprised no snitchers.”
    g “it just gets better and better.”
    rick “barry manilow??”
    HP “here is the story”” “pretty soon” there will be more fights, stabbings, shooting.”
    HolyKow – i don’t even know how to responds to you “ghetto mart”, i actually go there for milk and other things.

    I feel really, really upset by this. People are almost dying here. As I said this is real, this is my neighborhood, i am thrilled to have such great neighbors. Thanks a lot for having so little faith in our neighborhood. And the following are FACTS. More than a few of these other entries are merely conjecture.

    Again… this is real, this is all making me very, very sad, and most of our community is grief stricken(many of whom have PTSD & and are trying to find their way).

    Please muster up some compassion.

  • nuni April 30, 2010 (3:52 pm)

    guinivere, we have compassion, just not for the gangsters/wannabes that are hanging out in our neighborhood and causing trouble.

  • guinivere April 30, 2010 (4:12 pm)

    Well, Nuni, they are human, too. Not just gangsters/wannabes. My guess is that there is a lot more to their story. I have worked with the incarcerated. There is ALWAYS a story and usually it is very sad. Be that as it may, I am not a pie eyed, head in the sand person. I do see activity down at the store. I have got to have compassion for them, have you talked to them? I do and many of them are nice guys, misled maybe, but nice guys. I will go with my compassion. It is a lot more effective than hatred.

  • nuni April 30, 2010 (7:08 pm)

    oh boo hoo. People have choices. You can choose to live that way if you want or you can choose to be a better person and make a real life for yourself. Everyone has a sob story, they aren’t that special.

    And if they are such nice kids why don’t you go over to the store and nicely ask them to go home?

    Sorry I don’t have compassion for dirtbags that vandalize my house and waste my money with their antics. Actions speak louder than words.

  • Velo_nut April 30, 2010 (7:12 pm)

    guinivere… maybe it’s time you and your neighbors did something to fix your neighborhood. Because right now? It sucks.

  • guinivere May 1, 2010 (8:54 am)

    Nuni, you are absolutely right!!! Actions do speak louder than words. Velo, you clearly don’t know anything because if you did, you would realize that there is a LOT of energy going into this. Including mine. For all I know, you might be living in Nebraska. That is what I don’t like about this forum, it isn’t real.

    I am very active in my community. Yes, it is very real and this blogging stuff isn’t. You can all type to your hearts content but it is, i am realizing, an unproductive time suck.

    this is my first experience of blogging, and might be my last. As I said a couple of emails ago, this is very real to me. I realized that this forum is not real, does not accomplish anything at all except entertaining y’all during your obviously empty lives.

    i have bigger fish to fry in the real world, and i am sorry that i got sucked in to this mindless chatter. Thanks, Nuni, you are right. Actions DO speak louder than words.

    Over and out.

    • WSB May 1, 2010 (9:53 am)

      Guinivere, I’m glad you at least stopped by, but this isn’t “blogging.” These are comments on news stories. Same as you find on a newspaper website, a TV website, a radio website.
      .
      Some people choose to comment, more don’t. But it *is* “real” – online is a large part of many people’s lifestyles, like it or not, and the opportunity to discuss community issues is important online as well as in person. We have deleted more than a few comments in some of these threads, as explicit “all (whatevers) are (whatever)” type racism/sexism/other stereotyping is not welcome here, but some would disagree with us on that and would suggest that the only way to deal with ugly beliefs is to confront them head on.
      .
      I was in the front row covering the entire forum the other night and many opinions here have been no more strident than some voiced that night by some of the participants – most of whom did not identify themselves, if anyone noticed, which is exactly why I counter the criticism of “anonymous comments” – they happen in person too, not just online, and I think we have a right in the US to not have to provide ID when speaking (or writing) publicly. By the way, while we do not have a requirement that you live in West Seattle in order to read or comment on WSB, I can tell you from our logs that an extremely vast majority of people are coming here through local ISPs. Including the person whose residence you doubt.
      .
      The only reason this particular discussion isn’t happening at a newspaper website right now is because frankly THEY AREN’T COVERING THE ISSUE/STORY. If any newspaper sent a reporter to the forum the other night, I didn’t see them, and haven’t seen any stories suggesting they were there. (Here are the Google News results for the search terms that would bring up any such coverage – only brings up our stories)
      http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22high+point%22+meeting+stabbing
      ,
      Didn’t see any newspaper folks there a week ago yesterday, either – a couple ran the official police news release either late that night or the next day, without ever having gone to the scene. That’s my soapbox – we do the news, and “blog” is only our publishing format. We aren’t “blogging” nor are those who take the time to post comments on WSB, which have provided thousands of bits of amazing discussion – some difficult, most not – in our 4 1/2 years of running this site. (“Blogging” is an unfortunately coined term for “writing” – we prefer to describe writers for what they are, whether journalists or commenters or diarists or advocates.)
      .
      By the way, we come to High Point to cover the good news as well as the difficult news, as you will see if you click High Point under the headline of this story and scroll past the unfortunate recent incidents – Tracy

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