West Seattle Crime Watch: Admiral “sparkler bomb,” and more

Lots of West Seattle activity on the police scanner these past couple hours – one report from someone in Highland Park who thought someone fired shots at his house, another call about possible shots heard closer to the Westwood area, beer getting shoplifted from the 16th/Holden 7-11 … Then, NOT from the scanner, Lisa e-mailed a firsthand report of a “sparkler bomb” in Admiral:

I live in Admiral by the PCC and had a “sparkler bomb” explode in the parking strip in front of my house about an hour ago. My house is swarming with about 5-6 police right now collecting all the fragments. It was crazy scary. There is a hole in my parking strip and fragments up to my front porch and 2 houses beyond. The police think it’s random, and have a suspect.

Lisa’s not sure if that suspect is in custody yet, though. (We will of course follow up with police.) Meantime, one other e-mail mentions hearing “explosions” in the Admiral area around 2 am, most likely the same incident. Five months ago, something similar happened in Highland Park; here’s our report about that one (be sure to read the comments, which brought out a lot of information about what a “sparkler bomb” is).

What The January 18, 2009 (4:10 am)

I heard a couple of loud “explosions” around the same time tonight…south of the Alaska Junction. Sound really travels on The Sound.

Spikele January 18, 2009 (4:39 am)

My fiancee’s car window was smashed. I heard the window smashed and immediately woke up, little did they know that they car had an aftermarket alarm. Suckers ran away before I could get outside.

Spikele January 18, 2009 (4:40 am)

31st Ave SW

Dave January 18, 2009 (10:31 am)

Do you have any additional information on the Highland Park ‘shots fired’ report?

ambc January 18, 2009 (11:18 am)

This could be the shots fired: http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2009/01/18/drive-by-shooting-in-sw-seattle/

d January 18, 2009 (11:32 am)

16th/Holden shoplifting reminds me:

though not directly causal, lighting does impact public safety outside 7-11.

So, I’m wondering if the good people who live around 16th/Holden have noticed that a large number of street lights running east from 20th up to 11th on Holden are burned out? I was driving home through there the night before last and it has become noticeably dimmer. Have these been reported as being out? I’m sure it gets repetitive, but it needs to be done.

The intersection at 16th has two out — one on the NW corner and one on the SE corner. It has dimmed the side of the building and street in front of 7-11. Not good.

The T-section at 20th & Holden is out (that one is especially dangerous for cars going east or west and, given reports of multiple keying of parked cars right there along 20th, hopefully has been reported. There is also a light out in that same area on 20th a few houses south.

The poles at 11th and 14th and Holden are out also. The 14th St. light is right above the parking lot of Highland Park Improvement Club. We all should know that the area within these blocks, perhaps more than any other along Holden, need to be well lit. Folks need to be aware of the lighting everywhere for safety, but especially on Holden.

If other people have already reported these, way to go and thank you very much!

Dave January 18, 2009 (12:28 pm)

http://www.seattle.gov/light/streetlight/

With more than 100,000 streetlights to maintain, we appreciate your help in finding lights that are out or are malfunctioning. You can report them electronically, using the Streetlight Trouble Report Form, via phone at (206) 684-7056 or via email at street.light@seattle.gov.

WSB January 18, 2009 (12:38 pm)

Thanks, ambc, I’ll post a separate line about that. Reminder to all, SPD Blotter stories go immediately (via RSS) to our Crime Watch page (there’s a shortcut link at the top of the page that’ll jump you ahead of the list of WSB story links), so any time you are looking for more information on something, you can check there too – those items are posted by the downtown-based media unit and there’s no extra alert when something turns up there, nor do they post about ALL notable incidents – we check frequently but don’t often see their posts the absolute second they go up, so we put the automatic feed on the CW page.

d January 18, 2009 (12:56 pm)

Hey Dave –

Thanks for posting the links and Phone number; I should have done that.

roberto jose January 18, 2009 (1:56 pm)

Just a brief note of thanks to the fine folks who maintain the West Seattle Blog site. Especially in the area of criminals victimizing our community, only an informed and vocal community will motivate the police to action. Far too often police departments are able to defer responsibility to the court system. Property owners and citizens alike need to make the SPD aware that we will not tolerate insufficient amounts of policing in our neighborhoods. And thanks again to the West Seattle Blog for keeping us informed.

Melissa January 18, 2009 (3:33 pm)

If people want sufficient amounts of policing they need to vote for the taxes to pay for them. The number of cops in this town is tiny. They have a huge amount of work to do and, in my experiences with them, usually do it very well. There are just damned few of them.

JH January 18, 2009 (6:20 pm)

Ditto to Melissa!

56bricks January 19, 2009 (5:13 am)

Well,then why are they always able to find ME?

d January 19, 2009 (10:11 am)

Some folks might care to know that this drive-by was not in Highland Park as mentioned; this area at 18th and Dawson is considered to be part of the Puget Ridge community area, I believe.

fwiw.

Agreed – Great police, just not enough of them to go around.

Also, not enough residents are involved in Block Watch programs. That would help the police and the neighborhoods and wouldn’t cost a cent.

Sorry, comment time is over.