10:25 AM: Police are searching for a suspect in what they call a case of domestic-violence gunfire. It happened a short time ago in the 6500 block of 16th SW. They’re asking that everyone avoid the area. Per scanner, the suspect was described as a white man with a shaved head and red beard, possibly in a white Jeep Cherokee.
10:35 AM: Our crew reports 16th is closed to traffic in the 7000 block on the south side of this investigation. And just tweeted by SPD:
Police actively searching for Patrick Shephard, a white male, 6'2", thin build, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, also has a neck tattoo. Call 911 if seen.
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) June 15, 2018
10:49 AM: Now per scanner police are headed for a nearby greenbelt to investigate a report of a possible body and gun – we don’t know for certain whether it’s related but there’s a fire call too. Also, South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) has sent a text alert that it’s on lockdown. And Metro has sent a text that it’s not serving the campus right now.
10:59 AM: Police confirm via Twitter that they believe the body is that of the suspect they were seeking and that he appears to have died by suicide, in the West Duwamish Greenbelt.
11:16 AM: As a commenter noticed, the location of the SFD response related to the body discovery keeps changing (most recently 13th/Holly). That’s because it’s taken a while for SFD to find the best path into the greenbelt.
Meantime, Metro continue to route transit out of the area, including Routes 125 and 128. We’ll update whenever that gets back to normal.
11:40 AM: We talked to police at the scene; they say this started with a confrontation between the suspect and an ex-girlfriend; he started firing shots into her house. No one was hit, according to police, but other people were home too and some, police say, even jumped out of a window to get away.
11:54 AM: SSC is back to normal operations and so is transit in the area, which means 16th has reopened.
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