23 Replies to "UPDATE: Why Guardian 1 was over Schmitz Park"

• Alki resident April 22, 2016 (8:27 pm)

  Thanks for the info. Heard it overhead a few minutes ago and have been checking the blog. Hope who they are searching for aren’t dangerous.

• Alki res April 22, 2016 (8:28 pm)

  Western edge of their circle is over 58th SW.  (was)  They just departed at 8:25

• Murray wynne April 22, 2016 (8:35 pm)

  The helo departed to the south st 8:27 pm.

• JH April 22, 2016 (8:36 pm)

  I live right next to the park and saw the helicopter circling for quite some time.  Not surprising-we hear gunshots in the park all the time.  And yes, I report them!

• Skeptic April 22, 2016 (8:38 pm)

  I see airsoft pellets lying on  the ground down there pretty regularly.  

• Glenn April 22, 2016 (8:40 pm)

  We live next door to the park and this is the first place we came for news. We locked the house and kids down. Maybe a slight overreaction on my part but thank you to the blog for immediate news!

• Dog walker April 22, 2016 (8:41 pm)

  Six police cars with sirens passed me going north on California Ave. I wondered what was happening.

• Bestbets April 22, 2016 (8:57 pm)

  Someone with a gun… is that illegal in a Seattle park? I was in the Luna Park Cafe cafe the other day having dinner and noticed a man in the booth next door was openly carrying a gun on his hip. It made me super duper uncomfortable, but based on my reading of WA state gun laws, he was within his rights (haven’t decided if I will return to Luna Park Cafe). Yet several police cars and a helicopter for someone seen with a gun in Schmitz Park?  How are we supposed to figure out what’s “dangerous” and worth calling the police for, and what’s not? Confusing.

  • Jon April 22, 2016 (9:31 pm)

    There’s no reason to call the police on someone for exercising their rights unless they’re in violation of a law (and in your case, they weren’t). It’s up to property owners if they want to enforce restrictions; but if you’re going to make that a priority in life, I encourage you to read up on the Luby’s Cafe shooting incident from 1991. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes might provide you with a different perspective and understanding as to why some choose to carry.

    I realize that t probably won’t change your mind, but please know that many gun owners are extremely safe and responsible. I can’t say the same for the dozens of people I watch texting while they drive their 4 ton vehicles on the highway.

    Anyway, take care and be safe.
    

    • Mike April 23, 2016 (7:42 am)

      Actually, if somebody feels threatened by another person open carrying, it’s a fine line, but technically the open carry individual is impeding on the rights of the person feeling threatened.   One right cannot trump another right.

    • GNel April 23, 2016 (8:21 am)

      I would like to see mandatory minimum sentences for open carry enthusiasts whose guns accidentally discharge in public whatever the circumstances or result of that discharge.

      I think we know that other people’s guns do not make the rest of us safer . The precise opposite is true and we all know that.

• JH April 22, 2016 (9:01 pm)

  Since we’re talking about Schmitz Park, I want to know where the coyotes have gone that were in Schmitz Park!  I haven’t heard them in months, and always heard them on a daily basis.  My neighbors found a dead one months ago on a trail in Schmitz Park.  For those of you that live next to the park-do you hear the coyotes still?  I miss them!

  • WSB April 22, 2016 (9:09 pm)

    We’ve had a couple coyote sightings reported next to the park, if you scroll through the archives https://westseattleblog.com/category/coyotes

    • Steve Paul April 22, 2016 (9:15 pm)

      We hear them regularly in the neighborhood adjoining Pelly Park. It’s great to hear them talking to each other!

• JH April 22, 2016 (9:16 pm)

  Thanks WSB!  That makes me feel better.  I guess they’re just moving around a bit more.  I was getting concerned after not hearing them for months and not seeing them walk through my backyard.

• John April 23, 2016 (7:26 am)

  JH, I saw a coyote three nights ago less than a block from Shmitz Park.

• Qbert April 23, 2016 (8:04 am)

  This town keeps getting worse and cost of living keeps going up.. How much longer?

• JW April 23, 2016 (9:56 am)

  Qbert– This town keeps getting worse because there was maybe someone with a gun, then a big response, then actually nothing that happened? Sounds like a pretty sage place to me.

• Born on Alki 59 April 23, 2016 (12:41 pm)

  Schmitz park attracts many paintball enthusiasts. I’ve seen plenty of them in the past. I wonder if this was the case. They can look very intimidating wearing camo gear.

• Rusty April 23, 2016 (1:59 pm)

  Mike –

  You have no right not to be offended or get your feelings hurt, and God help us if you ever do. We do have a right to open carry, or conceal carry with a permit. If you feel threatened by someone excercising their constitutional rights, then that is your problem – nobody else’s. If you witness someone handling a firearm in an unsafe manner, then you might have a point, but you certainly have absolutely no right to trample on someones constitutional rights because of how it makes you feel.

  • JanS April 23, 2016 (5:29 pm)

    so, Rusty…I should assume that if I see someone walking down California Ave. carrying an assault rifle, I should ASSume that he’s exercising his right, and it and I am perfectly safe? Because if it makes me feel slightly unsafe, I have no right to report it? Is that what I’m hearing from you? There are no signs on people’s backs…how do I tell the good guy with a gun from the bad guy with the gun? I’m serious. You speak about rights…and I’m fine with legally carrying a registered gun…but we don’t live in the land of should, and we should never ASSume that everything and everyone is on the up and up. So help me out.

• Tony April 23, 2016 (4:07 pm)

  Amen, Rusty, you are right!

  Constitutional rights … are Rights!

• Rusty April 25, 2016 (1:40 pm)

  JANS –
  I can completely understand your apprehension should you see someone open-carrying a rifle, it would give me some pause as well. You can contact SPD and have them find out if the person is legally allowed to carry, and what their intentions are. There are quite a few youtube videos of 2nd Amendment supporters patrolling high-crime areas of cities open-carrying rifles. The police are inevitably called, and once they determine that all the weapons are legal and that the folks carrying them aren’t out for nefarious reasons, everyone goes on their way.

  I never maintained that you (or anyone else) doesn’t have a right to report it. In fact, I would agree in the case of the open-carrying rifle. The question was about seeing someone’s holstered handgun – and I can guarantee you that SPD has better things to do than investigate if everyone started reporting those. You still have every right to report it – I just think you’ll see a much better response for the rifle than the handgun. The whole point is that how you/I/anyone feels about seeing someone’s holstered handgun doesn’t give us any right to abridge that persons 2nd Amendment rights, which was what Mike was implying – that somehow we had a ‘right’ to not be offended / threatened by what we see if we disagree with it, even if it’s perfectly legal. There is no such right.
  Sincerely hoping this helps the dialog –

Sorry, comment time is over.