WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: 6-hour standoff ends with arrest after gunfire in High Point

8:57 PM: Thanks for the tips – police are investigating what, according to scanner traffic, is confirmed gunfire in High Point; they have found shell casings. We’re off to find out more.

9:09 PM: Police are on Lanham Place SW, just north of SW Graham, investigating, but not commenting.

10 PM: Police are still there, trying to make contact with someone possibly connected to the incident, and they will be blocking off streets nearby to keep people away until this is resolved.

10:35 PM: Not resolved yet. Meantime, we got a phone call from a neighbor who said she wanted to publicly thank police for their rapid response when she called after hearing the gunfire.

11:08 PM: Officers are still working strategically and deliberately to resolve the standoff.

MIDNIGHT: Standoff continues. We’re monitoring for the duration.

1:08 AM: Standoff continues.

2:13 AM: Five and a half hours now since the original call.

3:01 AM: As best we can tell from monitoring radio, this is wrapping up – an ambulance has been brought in to transport the person police had been working to take into custody. We’ll seek the official report for followup information later this morning.

ADDED 10:53 AM: That followup info just arrived via SPD Blotter:

A 26-year-old man is in custody and several guns have been recovered following an extended call Wednesday night into Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood in West Seattle.

On March 7th, just before 9:00 pm, officers responded to several reports of shots fired in the 6000 block of Lanham Place Southwest. Officers located bullet damage to a parked vehicle in front of an apartment building. Additionally, it appeared that several items had been thrown from a third-floor apartment onto the ground below. As officers were containing the building, someone threw two handguns out of the window. Officers attempted to make contact with the occupants but to little avail. Officers believed the male suspect inside the apartment was in crisis.

After a prolonged standoff, officers obtained a search warrant for the apartment. With the assistance of SWAT, Gang Unit detectives, and K9, officers made entry into the apartment where the 26-year-old suspect was arrested without incident. Inside the apartment, several additional handgun magazines and ammunition was located and collected for evidence. One of the handguns that was tossed out the window was reported as stolen, while the other had been reported as missing.

The suspect, a convicted felon, was booked into the King County Jail for weapons violation. Detectives will handle the follow-up investigation.

We’ll be checking on the suspect’s background and will add more when we have i.

36 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: 6-hour standoff ends with arrest after gunfire in High Point"

  • Jort March 7, 2018 (9:29 pm)

    The Sandwich Family walked into the middle of this crime scene inadvertently. When we saw the guns drawn, we figured it might be a good idea to find an alternative route. 

    • WSB March 7, 2018 (9:37 pm)

      Glad you are OK. They told our photographer to stay clear too, which doesn’t usually happen at aftermath scenes, but I believe they are/were still actively seeking suspect(s).

  • NativetoSeattle March 7, 2018 (9:47 pm)

    There were also gunshots in Pigeon Point, just east of Delridge off of Andover. One car had it’s rear window shot out. Cops came by & took reports. As far as we know, no one was hurt & the car with the shooter headed east on the West Seattle Bridge. 

    • Katie March 7, 2018 (9:50 pm)

      3 cars got hit on that side of 23rd. I almost parked in between them and have never been more glad that I didn’t feel like parallel parking this afternoon and went up the street.

    • Floyd March 8, 2018 (12:52 am)

      I heard that the shots came from an SUV that headed south on 23rd towards the dead end. Several police cars arrived and parked at the corner of 23rd and Andover before the the SUV left the street. But rather than hunt down the SUV which was somewhere down that block, the police stayed at the corner for 45 minutes, then quickly drove to the dead end and back and then left. Like they weren’t very interested in finding the shooter.

      • La March 8, 2018 (10:22 am)

        To FLOYD: 
        Actually, an eyewitness reported seeing the SUV head NORTH on 23rd, taking it away from the Dead End and directly to the on-ramp to the WS Bridge.

        • Floyd March 8, 2018 (12:06 pm)

          I’ll ask my neighbor again about that. He too was an eye witness.

          • WSB March 8, 2018 (12:27 pm)

            Please note that we have a separate story specifically about the Pigeon Point incident – I was waiting for the High Point standoff to end before publishing it, but didn’t expect the HP standoff to go on so long.

  • Katie March 7, 2018 (9:47 pm)

    Curious to know if this is at all connected to the drive by in pigeon point earlier tonight. They collected casings from there too, would love an update if they link the incidents.

    • WSB March 7, 2018 (9:51 pm)

      We were trying to find police on that call shortly before this one. Didn’t have details on Pigeon Point aside from someone texting “Andover” and police were gone by the time we got there to look around but I see someone posted in the Forum. Doesn’t sound like SPD has resolved the HP incident yet – monitoring by scanner for now and will be seeking the written reports in the morning.

      • Katie March 7, 2018 (9:57 pm)

        I texted the intersection once I saw the size of the response. Overheard them take a witness statement from someone who was walking up the street at the time. The shots happened while I was showering and I thought it was someone aggressively knocking on my door. 

  • High point neighbor March 7, 2018 (9:56 pm)

    We live just down the alley from the incident and heard 2 different rounds of gun fire just before 9PM. Then there was a man yelling for several minutes and only caught “….or I’m going to shoot everyone.” Shortly after we heard sirens and the cops arrived. My husband went outside and was spotlighted by the cops and told to go back to his house immediately. 

  • Ava March 7, 2018 (10:08 pm)

    This is right behind where we live…we heard the gunshots…loud. We thought someone was hitting our door. Dog started freaking out. Police are still here with a spotlight on an upper window of building. My kids are too scared to sleep.

    • WSB March 7, 2018 (10:16 pm)

      They are trying to make contact with someone who might have been involved. Hopefully it’ll all get worked out sooner rather than later, and safely.

  • HPResident March 7, 2018 (10:30 pm)

    Thank you for reporting on this. I eagerly await any follow up news. High Point has been our home for over a decade, and an incident like this is extremely disturbing.

  • AIDM March 7, 2018 (10:31 pm)

    I was walking my dog and this was about a block away. Then a four minute pause and 6 more shots. There was actually one shot last night also around 8pm. I was pretty sure it was a gunshot as I heard a wizz sound that seemed more like a gunshot than a firework.

  • Mondvogel March 7, 2018 (11:16 pm)

    Live around the corner and just almost stumbled into it when walking the dog. Keep us posted please for updates!

    • WSB March 7, 2018 (11:42 pm)

      Listening closely (and will continue to, until this is resolved). No change in the situation.

  • Trickycoolj March 8, 2018 (6:22 am)

    Please do also follow up with SHA as well. 

  • skeeter March 8, 2018 (12:20 pm)

    I’m pretty sure SHA promised the residents of Highpoint they do background checks on tenants and do not allow convicted felons to live in SHA family housing.  I would love a follow-up from WSB on this. 

    • WSB March 8, 2018 (12:27 pm)

      We don’t know whether the arrested man was a resident or a visitor – haven’t seen court documents yet and since he was booked early this morning, his bail hearing (generating such info) won’t likely be until tomorrow.

      • Trickycoolj March 8, 2018 (12:29 pm)

        Guns are also not allowed in SHA housing and it sounds like there was quite a collection visitor or not. 

      • R March 20, 2018 (7:17 am)

        Any update?

        • WSB March 20, 2018 (7:25 am)

          I never got the name of the suspect, so I have not been able to follow the case.

          • R March 20, 2018 (12:31 pm)

            The suspect is Abdullahi, Wario Mohamed, also registered at same address is sex offender Abdullahi, Gamada Mohamed.

          • WSB March 20, 2018 (12:53 pm)

            Wario M. Abdullahi was charged last week with unlawful possession of a firearm. Bears a longer story later but in the short run, since you ask, there it is. With a name, I was able to find the document (the county/state website has no way to search by incident, just by name, which I wish wasn’t so – for misdemeanor arrests, the city municipal court site DOES facilitate searching by police report #). Oddly, the jail register shows him having been in jail since January 2nd, which obviously is inaccurate since he was very much NOT in jail at the time of this incident unless it’s a case of mistaken identity. As for the other name you mention, the registry shows only 6000 block of Lanham, no way to tell whether it’s the same address or domicile or whatever. – TR

          • R March 20, 2018 (12:53 pm)

            West Seattle’s Finest: https://www.leagle.com/decision/inwaco20120305b21

  • Catherine March 8, 2018 (12:31 pm)

    Wondering why people think they are hearing firecrackers.. wishful thinking I guess.   

    • WSB March 8, 2018 (12:36 pm)

      Far more often than not, what’s reported as “gunshots” turns out to have been fireworks. Sometimes firecrackers, sometimes the loud booms of “M-80” types. But on the other hand some cases of gunshots go unconfirmed if no evidence is found – casings and/or damage and/or victims. Last night happens to have been an unusual case of two confirmed incidents.

  • Diane March 8, 2018 (1:19 pm)

    how did this get turned into discussion about SHA?  where is the info in this story or the comments that this was in SHA apartment building?

    • trickycoolj March 8, 2018 (3:20 pm)

      Because both sides of the street in the block mentioned are SHA properties.  

  • Nate March 8, 2018 (4:10 pm)

    This got turned into a topic about SHA because it was SHA housing.  Do the full background checks as you are supposed to, follow up on all complaints SHA. We have the laws in place but they need to be enforced, but of course  offending  feelings over public safety is more important.

  • Diane March 8, 2018 (4:40 pm)

    the story just said “apartment building”; thus my question re SHA

  • Nate March 8, 2018 (5:21 pm)

    They would never report that it was SHA, would never want to risk reporting the truth.

    • WSB March 8, 2018 (5:37 pm)

      If by “they” you mean us, (a) EVERYTHING we report is the truth as best we can determine. Or an accurately attributed quote/statement. (b) This story is about a crime that happened, not about who owns the building where the crime suspect was arrested. (Whose name I still haven’t found – no one matching the age/alleged crime is on the jail register – let alone whether he lives there or was visiting.) – TR

    • HappyOnAlki March 8, 2018 (6:10 pm)

      Nate, you must not be very familiar with WSB and their excellent facts-only reporting. Read and see.

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