West Seattle Crime Watch: Bullet holes found in house, car

New information about the suspected gunshots reported last night by residents northwest of The Junction: This afternoon, evidence was found that shots indeed were fired. First word came from Stacy, who posted this comment on the original report:

Contrary to popular belief, the noises heard on the 4100 block between Dakota and Genesee last night around 8:30 were actually gunshots. At approximately 3:30 today, eight shell casings were found on the ground along with three bullet holes – two in a parked car and one in a neighbors house. Police were called and just finished their investigation.

Officers who investigated last night didn’t find anything, but we just confirmed Stacy’s report with Lt. Ron Smith at the Southwest Precinct, who says an officer indeed went back out this afternoon to investigate bullet holes in a car and house. No one was hit. (Later note: We have a followup question out regarding the exact location, as well as whether there is any indication of random vs. target.)

36 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Bullet holes found in house, car"

  • cmc February 9, 2009 (6:28 pm)

    And that is that? Sounds scary and fishy to me!

  • WSB February 9, 2009 (6:41 pm)

    Undeniably scary. Don’t know about fishy. I will be looking for a copy of the report tomorrow … there is often a day or two lag – I have a sheaf of reports downloaded late today from the precinct but the incident dates only go through Friday/Saturday.

  • toddinwestwood February 9, 2009 (7:29 pm)

    I think I know what you mean by fishy. Fishy as in gang bangers dont go shooting in to random houses around a decent neighborhood.

  • GenHillOne February 9, 2009 (7:53 pm)

    4100 block of which street between Dakota & Genessee??

  • changingtimes February 9, 2009 (7:59 pm)

    ok i just checkout out the google map on this and saw it was about 2 blocks from my house!!!! scary!!! i hope we see some more police presence in our area for the next few days!

  • changingtimes February 9, 2009 (8:00 pm)

    oops i ment checked out… ha ha ha

  • Kristina February 9, 2009 (8:29 pm)

    This is horrifying. :-(

  • JQ Public February 9, 2009 (9:00 pm)

    I think the shots were fired on 46th. Maybe 47th. I live by there. I saw a small red car driving in the area immediately after I heard the shots. The car drove west on Dakota, stopped at 48th, picked up a pedestrian that ran up Dakota and headed north on 48th. Very random.

    Hey everyone…stop shooting!

  • GenHillOne February 9, 2009 (9:06 pm)

    WSB and changingtimes, I don’t think that google map is right – that’s 4100 Genessee and on the wrong side of California…aren’t we talking about the 4100 block of 45th/46th/47th (I’m not sure on which street the casings were found)

  • cmc February 9, 2009 (9:06 pm)

    Yes, toddinwestwood, that is exactly what I meant by fishy. Thanks for explaining it better than I did. Truthfully, I hope it wasn’t just some random drive-by!!

  • wsmom February 9, 2009 (9:14 pm)

    I saw the cops this afternoon talking to the african american teenager. The house is located 4300 block of 47th ave sw. The car was a white lexus….sounds familiar to another shooting in west seattle last week.

  • WSB February 9, 2009 (9:17 pm)

    GHO, I have a followup question back to the police. The excerpt above is what Stacy wrote but I know the notes last night all mentioned 45th and Dakota. I’ll just pull the map link out if it’s causing more confusion, till there’s definitive word on the house where the bullets etc. were found – TR

  • wtf?! February 9, 2009 (10:50 pm)

    Seriously, what the f*** is happening to our quiet, sleepy neighborhood?

  • S February 9, 2009 (11:40 pm)

    The 4100 block of the numbered avenues in that neighborhood (45th SW, 46th SW, 47th SW, etc) falls between Dakota and Genessee.

  • Lorraine February 10, 2009 (3:56 am)

    The shots were fired on the 4100 block of 47th Ave SW The taget house was 41xx. My house was also hit by at least one bullet. Four shots are accounted for and four bullets have yet to be found. I have started a community action report with the Police Dept. and will have an officer assigned to our neighborhood to help us with this kind of activity. Right now we need your help. Anytime you see anything!!! suspicious you must call 911 and report it. The more reports we have the higher police presence we have. The more reports filed, the more messages will be sent to people involved in this activity that they are not welcome. They do not want to be in neighborhoods where the police are…it’s the trickle down effect and we all need to be on board. I beg you to help keep our neighborhood safe and create a strong community presence. This is the only way this kind of activity will end. As soon as I have more information from the police I will post it and let you know. I hope to set up some sort of community meeting within the next week. In the meantime keep safe and BE HEARD!!!!

  • BlockWatchMantra February 10, 2009 (6:01 am)

    Lorraine –

    Sorry you were hit. Good for you for finding constructive solutions to a hard situation. Police presence is probably one way to deter crime. But SW Precinct has limited numbers of police officers and simply cannot be everywhere we want them to be every time we want them there. It is a pretty harsh reality.

    But, we can take very proactive measures ourselves to reduce and deter crimes. It is terrific that you are stepping up and leading your street to cooperative empowerment.

    SW Precinct and SPD asks all of us to 1) report all crimes 2) report suspicious events/activities/people and 3) organize and participate in our street’s Block Watch programs – a PROVEN deterrent to crime.

    Sounds like you’ve already started the process, but for who others who are worried and have not, start here at this link with Officer Benjamin Kinlow, our SW Crime Prevention Officer.

    http://www.seattle.gov/police/precincts/southwest/prevention.htm

  • Cami February 10, 2009 (7:06 am)

    This happened on Lander and 57th a few years ago. I believe the cops figured out the reason behind the targeted car shooting pretty quickly.

  • pam February 10, 2009 (8:06 am)

    lorraine- thank you for acting so quickly to take care of our neighborhood. I would like to attend any meetings you arrange, and help in any way I can. (We live just a few blocks south on 47th.)I’ll keep checking the posts to see what we can do… I wish there was a more direct way to keep in touch with you but I don’t want to post all my info here. Thank you so much!

  • GenHillOne February 10, 2009 (8:17 am)

    Thanks for the update, Lorraine. I’m so sorry you had this happen.

  • WSB February 10, 2009 (9:27 am)

    Editor’s note: Per WSB (and elsewhere) crime-reporting standards I have edited the last two digits from Lorraine’s note – if the resident of the “targeted” house chooses to disclose their own personal information such as exact address or name, which often happens in these stories, that’s one thing, but that information isn’t even publicly available in the police report (those are released with addresses blacked out to the block numbers to try to protect victims’ privacy). Thanks.

  • miws February 10, 2009 (9:31 am)

    pam & Lorraine,

    If you, or anyone for that matter, want to communicate privately without posting e-mail addys and other personal info here, you might want to register on WSB Forums (if you haven’t done so already—-tab on the far right end under the header pic at the top of this page.) That way, you could communicate via Private Messages.

    .

    Now, of course, all interested parties would have to be registered, and have posted on a Forum Thread, so that a link would be available for each party, for others to click on and initiate P.M. communication, and, someone could always start a Forum Thread specific to this topic.

    .

    Hope this helps, and makes sense, (haven’t had my coffee yet! :) )

    .

    Mike

  • wsfan February 10, 2009 (9:33 am)

    Though this is completely SPECULATIVE, I find it too coincidental that there is a white Lexus parked 1-2 houses down the block when viewing the aforementioned address (target house) on Google Street View. And let’s be honest, the rims/wheels are a little flashy-cheap (i.e. ghetto fabulous) for a banker/real estate/business type that one *could* expect to own the car. (Not that Lexuses aren’t for everyone – just saying!)

    IF the car shown is indeed related in any way to the shooting on 2/1, and IF this incident is in some way retaliatory, I wish authorities godspeed in shutting down the revenge activity, and putting away those that deserve it.

    I wish you could force-feed wisdom to the youth…shooting & killing is senseless…when will is stop?

  • a February 10, 2009 (9:46 am)

    Lorraine

    I used to be a neighbor I guess. Im not sure who you are though. Sorry to hear about that. What a great neighborhood and people living there. Very scary. Although I am not suprised with that house :( Too many incidents around lately.

  • julie February 10, 2009 (2:58 pm)

    Wow,
    I live on 48th between Dakota and Genessee and heard the shots. I didn’t think it was gun fire because of the neighborhood! Guess I should think again. Next time I’ll call the cops. I’m also going to be on the lookout for any unusual activity. Unbelievable…

  • officer freindly February 10, 2009 (6:08 pm)

    I am taking a big chance here and might get in a lot of trouble. Your officers love west Seattle and the people who live there. We want to do so much for you and our family’s but offten our hand’s are tied. I went to a house yesterady tired and half sick from a cold, when A man walked to my car very angry. I asked “did you call?” he replied “dont you have an address?. My point is, we do care!You have to be on our side of the fence to understand. I have been shot at, attached with a knife and hatchet. One lady tried to hit me with a crow bar. I know all my guys will do what they can for you. Please try to understand…P.S. our squads are half what they used to be??????????

  • zero-to-life in West Seattle February 10, 2009 (6:49 pm)

    I, for one, am grateful for the officers who serve West Seattle. I know it is generally thankless work. Re: Lexus in google street view…just looked myself and that would be too funny if it was the car associated with the shooting.

  • officer freindly February 10, 2009 (6:54 pm)

    lorraine..I will go by you house at least twiece thursday. sorry, thats all I can promise. officer freindly………..

  • Lorraine February 10, 2009 (8:08 pm)

    Office Friendly,,,,thank you…it’s comforting to know that you are doing what you can. This evening I walked around the neighborhood and dropped off some letters to some of the neighbors. I did not visit everyone on our block, but hope to get to them all. In the meantime, I would use this opportunity to ask everyone in every neighborhood to get to know your neighbors and be visible. Be heard and be seen. Take note of what’s going on at your neighbors…reach out. So far the response from the people on our block is awesome…everyone is on board to make our homes safer!!

  • WSB February 10, 2009 (8:45 pm)

    I do want to make one note here.
    The back-end information that we see as administrators has nothing verifying or suggesting that “Officer Friendly” IS a police officer as represented … and nothing verifying or suggesting that she or he is NOT.
    NOT THAT VERIFICATION IS REQUIRED HERE, but I wanted to make that point before the discussion goes any further and before people make any further assumptions or expectations. Thanks.

  • Nancy Drew February 10, 2009 (10:08 pm)

    Whether or not ‘Officer Friendly’ is a real police officer or not is beside the point; whoever (s)he is, some very good points are made. Safe neighborhoods are not that way because they are affluent or predominantly white, but because the people who live there have chosen to work with and support our law enforcement professionals, who are also our friends and neighbors. Contrast that to communities where the gangbangers ‘no snitching’ mantra holds sway. Where would you rather live? Every citizen has a duty to assist the police in keeping their neighborhoods safe. We’re all in this thing together, and we can’t just turn our backs and expect the cops to be our ‘garbage men’. If you want your neighborhood to be a safe one, you’ve got to be willing to step up and do your bit. That’s what community is all about, kids.

  • WSB February 10, 2009 (10:13 pm)

    Oh, I absolutely agree.
    But as site owner, if someone is claiming to be a public servant and saying they’ll do something, I just felt obligated to say we did not have verification, not, again, that we require it. Doesn’t invalidate ANYTHING she/he said, and we do know that we are read by local police, so I would not be surprised if any chose to post. – TR

  • wssince77 February 10, 2009 (11:24 pm)

    Ive gotta say Ive read my share of police reports and there is not one officer I know that would have that many spelling or grammar errors, especially when posting on a public website. Nice sentiment but I don’t buy it.

  • WSB February 10, 2009 (11:29 pm)

    Well, I have too, but maybe they have spell check. Our comment field doesn’t (sorry ’bout that).

  • officer freindly February 11, 2009 (3:47 am)

    I apologize for the poorly written comment. It was a bad choice on my part to comment at all. Take care

  • west seattle-ite February 11, 2009 (5:33 pm)

    is this related at all to the boshaw shooting?

  • Susan February 13, 2009 (12:00 pm)

    I too live in the neighborhood and heard the shots on Sunday – YIKES! The house in question has been trouble for the past few years and is exacerbated by the only adult moving out and leaving the “kids” in charge! Where is DSHS and Child Protective Services??

    Thank you Lorraine for getting the entire neighborhood in action.

    Susan on 47th

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