West Seattle Crime Watch update: Man arrested after woman hit with BB

ORIGINAL REPORT, 9:14 PM: Seattle Police are looking for “a suspect firing a BB gun out a window near 42nd SW and SW Graham” this evening. They report via Twitter that a woman was walking with a man in that area when, she told officers, she was hit by a BB in her “lower body”; SPD says she declined medical attention, saying she wasn’t hurt. No other details so far.

12:48 AM UPDATE: New information from police – a 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with this incident. Their update on SPD Blotter says he was allegedly firing BBs out of a second-floor apartment window with an Airsoft rifle, targeting cans – but one ricocheted and hit the woman.

Mike June 8, 2013 (9:52 pm)

At high velocity, a BB can kill. So, 2nd degree assault for this one when they catch the bastards.

shayla June 8, 2013 (10:50 pm)

ya, that’s true, a good enough BB can kill someone really easily.

Moe June 8, 2013 (11:30 pm)

Should the police be trying to connect this with a similar BB shooting on 38th Ave SW a couple of weeks ago???

Noelle June 8, 2013 (11:40 pm)

I agree with MOE, could there be a connection between this bb gun shooting and the other bb shooting with the person walking their dog? It seems very odd. I hope they catch who ever is doing it!

Alyxx B June 9, 2013 (12:55 am)

Killing someone with a BB is not exactly likely. That said, yes, he should be taken in for assault with intent!

WTF June 9, 2013 (1:20 am)

Regardless of whether a BB gun can kill someone, loading it, cocking it, holding it up, aiming, and shooting it at someone or something is assault. And, I’ll venture to guess that any AH who would do this, WILL eventually escalate their stupidity into more damaging violence.

As for this particular incident—-if you are a 20 year old MAN pointing your gun out the window of your apartment to shoot cans, you need to get an education, get therapy, then get a life!!!

flimflam June 9, 2013 (6:33 am)

riiiight, shooting at cans…..

Kayleigh June 9, 2013 (7:37 am)

Unbelivable. I walk and run by here all the time.

thistle stairs June 9, 2013 (8:02 am)

How about when a person with a real gun (cop,law abiding citizen or lunatic with a fetish for justifiable homicide) sees you pointing your toy gun at another human? I agree with WTF, that guy needs help.

smokeycretin9 June 9, 2013 (8:58 am)

“you’ll shoot your eye out Ralphie”

Captain Killigan June 9, 2013 (9:01 am)

Sounds like it was an accident. No ill intent meant. Accidents happen. That 20 year old should have used better judgement with his toy gun and taken his activity to a less populated area. No need for other hyperbol.

LivesInWS June 9, 2013 (10:37 am)

Hardly a “toy gun.” And even “less populated” areas have some people and pets. Better judgement would be not to shoot it out the window at all.

LyndaB June 9, 2013 (11:00 am)

Umm, you just don’t do that where there are people around.

datamuse June 9, 2013 (11:22 am)

Hitting someone with a car because the driver wasn’t paying attention is also an accident, Killigan, but we still expect the driver to face consequences. Good lord.

Anne June 9, 2013 (11:25 am)

You know what– the words gun( whatever kind) & accident-& better judgement & 20 year old–just don’t go well together– at least in my opinion! So there is plenty of room for ” hyperbol”!?

PW45 June 9, 2013 (12:29 pm)

Oh, weird, someone in Seattle doesn’t know how to responsibly handle a [toy] gun? Hmmm… maybe because all the holier-than-thou Seattle liberals who consider “gun” a four letter word have created an environment where someone picks up a gun then doesn’t have a clue how to safely or responsible handle it. But now you think they need ‘therapy’… yeah, makes sense.

BTW… it says AIRSOFT, which is absolutely a TOY GUN. kind of a HUGE difference between airsoft and bb gun, i.e. about 200-300fps slower and plastic. Hence, about as harmful as a NERF gun.

me June 9, 2013 (12:33 pm)

Talk about an over reaction from the victim, the police, and most of you commenters. It was a PLASTIC BB from a TOY (airsoft)gun. They do not penatrate the skin nor can they be lethal. At most, they can cause a small welt when shot up close. Far more dangerous to be hit by a baseball from a father and son playing catch. You people really need to get a grip on reality. Not to mention a litle sensationalism from the editors for not including the word “plastic” as the SPD Blotter did.

WSB June 9, 2013 (1:07 pm)

“Me,” we’re about the last people you’d want to accuse of sensationalism, believe me. One of the reasons I left TV was to get away from even having to be in the same zipcode as that practice. Anyway, when I first published this story, the entirety of the information consisted of these three tweets from SPD, none of which included the word “plastic.” But I don’t know that I would have included the material in the headline if it had. Having written headlines for 36 years, I would note that headlines do not routinely go into details about what a bullet or a knife or a car or any other possibly newsmaking object is made of.
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https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/343567222993719296
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https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/343567482583388160
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https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/343567771793256448
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And the final tweet noting that a summary had been added to SPD Blotter:
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https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/343634865528397827
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TR

Kayleigh June 9, 2013 (1:42 pm)

Listen, you gun nuts and gun nut apologists: I have the right to walk down a public sidewalk without being hit in the eye, ear, or elsewhere (or have my dog hit) by a BB or bullet that is plastic, metal or otherwise shot by any gun, toy or real or whatever convoluted idea of “harmless” you deem it to be. Got it yet?

Denise June 9, 2013 (5:56 pm)

“me” – it doesn’t sound like you get the whole picture here. There was an incident a few weeks ago where a gentleman, in this rough vicinity, was walking his dog, and was hit by a BB. There could have been a correlation with what happened yesterday. It doesn’t matter what the actual device was made of, does it? I would venture to guess that your cavalier attitude would be far different if it was YOU, or one of your loved ones, that had been hit by a BB or something similar.

Moe June 9, 2013 (5:58 pm)

ditto

Paul June 14, 2013 (10:26 am)

“At high velocity, a BB can kill. So, 2nd degree assault for this one when they catch the bastards.”

At high velocity, everything can kill. Also, they’re throwing the term ‘bb’ around loosely. Was this one of those little lightweight plastic BBs that Airsoft rifles fire?

Unless there’s some intent here, this is fairly minor.

Sorry, comment time is over.