West Seattle Crime Watch: Followup on 17th/Trenton gunshots

| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Early Sunday, we posted 3 reader reports about gunshots at 17th/Trenton and promised to follow up with the Southwest Precinct. Just heard back from Sgt. Jeff Durden, who shared this info from the report: A 22-year-old was having a party for a friend’s birthday; “uninvited guests” showed up, a fight ensued, “several rounds” were fired into the air. The shooter(s) took off. No arrests, no injury, no property damage … no description of the suspects’ car, either. Regarding readers’ reports that this house had problems before, Sgt. Durden, who leads the Community Police Team, says it wasn’t on their radar but CPT officer Adonis Topacio will investigate — that’s who to contact (info here) if you have info to share.

GenHillOne April 21, 2008 (8:09 pm)

“fired into the air” — what goes up, must come down.

J April 22, 2008 (7:02 am)

The first 2 rounds were fired into the air and we witnessed the third directed south on 17th at someone running. It looked like he had a 22. It was very scary and seems not to phase the cops. They looked around for a bit with some lights in one small space. Cars from the party were cruising the block over and over and they didn’t stop or question any of them. Someone ran from the scene on the cops and they didn’t chase them down. As long as no one was killed… this time anyways.

charles April 22, 2008 (8:42 am)

the closer u get to white center, the closer you get to crime. they don,t call it the rat city area for nothing

M April 22, 2008 (3:22 pm)

Charles – that is a bunch of crap!! We live 2 houses down from the shooting and this is the first crime of any kind in this neighborhood since I moved in 1996. We have one bad rental house that is causing the trouble, but most of the people here in Highland Park are working families with children. It is a GREAT neighborhood to live and work in. You snobby jerks in other parts of W. Seattle need to look at the crime statistics – MOST of the crime is happening in your W. Seattle neighborhoods, not here in Highland Park. So we wish you folks would quit slamming our neighborhood and start treating us as part of the W. Seattle community. And as for White Center – the name “Rat City” doesn’t apply anymore and is not used. It is essentially a racial slur against the Asians that live and work there and is totally inappropriate. Why don’t you come and check out some of the business and restaurants before you make derogatory comments – you might find that it’s a cool little community. And fix the crime in your areas of W. Seattle before it comes floating over to ours.

mikev2.0 April 22, 2008 (4:31 pm)

I’m astonished, this area is very quiet and pleasant. It is my preferred route to walk my dog because it is quiet, “safe feeling”, well landscaped, and I’m not threatened by “guard dogs”.

M April 23, 2008 (7:53 pm)

As an update, the CPT team reports that the house is rented by a two young men who happen to be the sons of a man who lives nearby. Their lease expires in 30 days and the owner confirms they are moving out. There is a block watch meeting next week if anyone is interested to discuss the situation.

And Mike, I agree. We love living here and walking our dogs – it’s peaceful, quiet and friendly. I’m glad our neighbors feel the same about keeping it that way.

Michelle April 23, 2008 (8:49 pm)

M – I agree with you and I’m not the only one. Seattle Magazine ranked Highland Park the #2 neighborhood in Seattle in 2007, second only to Delridge, another area some people may be tempted to badmouth. White Center is #8, while Alki/Admiral is waaaaaaay down the list at #29.

http://www.seattlemag.com/Media/MediaManager/TopNeighborhoodspdf.pdf

I’m proud to say I live in Highland Park – despite the fact I live a block away from where this incident occurred. Yes, it’s scary that it happened but it’s definitely not the norm and my neighbors have already banded together to discuss the incident and step up our vigilance level to prevent this from happening again.

jojo April 24, 2008 (10:25 am)

EVERY neighborhood has a bad seed. I live a block away from this incident and I feel like what happened has only raised our awareness and made us closer and stronger. I love my neighbors. All of you rock and I feel safe because we all are very involved in our community here.

WestwoodWriter April 24, 2008 (1:08 pm)

This one house is definitely the exception to the rule for blocks in every direction. The landlord clearly made a serious error in judgment letting his son and his son’s friends move in. I think we all thought that the 45 minute long street-riot slash knife-fight which ended their housewarming party was certainly an anomaly. We were wrong and didn’t act quickly enough to quell the growing inconsiderate and illegal activities at the house. I can only imagine what the tenants have done to the inside! Now, the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD is keeping a very close eye on the property, and we hope that the landlord can find tenants who are more in keeping with the character of neighborhood. And, if not, we are ALL working in close communication with the police now and further activities like the ones perpetrated against our block for the past year will not be tolerated. There are at least TWO meetings scheduled with police officers at the SW Precinct in the coming 3 weeks. I sincerely hope that for the remainder of the lease, the police will at least drive by the house a couple times on Fridays and Saturdays between 10PM and 2AM.

M April 24, 2008 (7:13 pm)

I love my neighbors – you guys are great!! Maybe we should have a block party this summer?? (We’ll get the Tongan Church to lite up that big BBQ of theirs – lol!)

HighlandParker April 26, 2008 (6:47 pm)

Thanks for sticking up for Highland Park! It’s a great community and a great place to live.

When is the next Highland Park improvement meeting like we had last summer?

Jack May 2, 2008 (11:00 pm)

In light of the shooting on Saturday the 19th,the 8600 block of 17th had a Block Watch meeting. The meeting was well attended, including the occupant of the offending house. The meeting included a Community Police Team Officer, Seattle Police Officer, and the City Attorney. We talked about the shooting. The person who was involved in the incident was able to explain what happened. He said that the people who were shooting were uninvited guests and they shouldn’t be coming back. He also said he has since moved and is no longer living in the area.

The 8600 block of 17th has formed a formal Block Watch group. If you haven’t done so on your block, I highly recommend it. The Police Officer ran the meeting and it was very informative. They passed out written material regarding home safety and how to advocate for your block. It’s great to meet your neighbors and know how to contact them in an emergency.

We have a great block and it’s now safer because we were able to come together and support each other.

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