West Seattle Crime Watch: Drive-by BB shooting

| Crime | Fairmount Springs | West Seattle news

Out of the WSB inbox, from a Fairmount Springs resident who doesn’t want to be identified:

I … wanted to let the community know that yesterday, Sunday, 11/7/10, at about 1:45 pm, two youths drove by our home on the 5900 block of Fauntleroy Way [map] and shot a bb gun at our front window, putting a hole through both panes. A neighbor walking by with her young son and was startled by the sudden POP! She noticed the culprits were driving a gray sedan but was unable to get the license plate number. The police have been notified and a case # was assigned. Please comment here if you have any helpful information or if you hear of any similar unfortunate incidents. Thanks very much, and be safe.

The city’s My Neighborhood map, which catalogs many police responses within a few hours, does confirm a case categorized as “property damage” in that block yesterday afternoon; because the classification is so general, it’s impossible to tell at this point whether there were other similar, recent cases, but we’re checking with police – West Seattle has had past cases of serial BB-gun shooters, with people being hit and hurt.

JB November 8, 2010 (9:37 am)

As harmless as a BB gun shooting sounds, this is very serious business. I believe it was ~2 years ago that a bike commuter was shot with a BB gun fired from a moving car. I believe the BB punctured his heart and some serious medical care was needed. The problem is the physics, the gun fires the pellet at a relatively low speed, maybe enough to break skin, but this is changed by the speed of the moving car. When you add in the car’s speed (30+ mph) the result is enough to penetrate someone’s skin, organs, or brittle bones. It’s much more like getting hit with a pellet of bird shot fired from high gauge shotgun. These kids need to be caught.

bear arms November 8, 2010 (11:11 am)

JB, your “physics” hypothesis is so off it’s not even funny. In theory, the absolute maximum amount of speed added to the bullet at 30mph would be around 40 feet per second. If shot out the side or back of a moving car the speed of the car would actually diminish the relative speed of the bb. Please do the forum a favor and don’t post nonsense like this. Anyone who reads your post at face value is now dumber for listening to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

HolyKow November 8, 2010 (11:42 am)

The numbers: (from a static stance, not to mention the added velocity listed above by JB)

BB gun – Depending on the BB gun, that “round” averages about 1200 FPS (feet per second).

.22LR – a “22” firearm – about 1600 FPS.

These things can really hurt/kill you, this is not a joke. This is not fun play. This is not “Ha Ha you’ll shoot your eye out” wackyness…

This is felony assault or worse…Serious business.

bear arms November 8, 2010 (3:22 pm)

The “You’ll shoot your eye out” Red Ryder BB gun is a kid’s toy. Have you ever shot one before? You could probably throw a bb harder than that thing shoots. I’d say your average bb gun is shooting anywhere from 250-750 fps. Pellet guns shoot a lot faster at around 1200 average.

Huh? November 8, 2010 (5:33 pm)

Are you for real? Any little MFer shooting anything at anyone at any time for any reason is assault. And in some cases attempted murder. It doesn’t make ANY difference what the “bullet” size or velocity is, what they’ve done is a crime. Get away with it once, twice, three times…they’ll get bored and escalate their “fun”. Stop dicking about semantics..

Sonoma November 8, 2010 (6:49 pm)

Last summer, some a-hole drove past me while I was walking and shot me twice with a BB gun. In addition to shocking and angering me, it hurt like hell. There’s no fun factor in assaulting innocent people, whether you hit them in the thigh or eye. I called the cops. It’s painful, infuriating, and a violation of one’s right to take a pleasant walk or relax in one’s home. I really don’t give a —- how powerful a BB is relative to other weapons. A-holes and “gun defenders” like our friend “bear arms” have no right to violate me and my personal space.

DCS Foyle November 8, 2010 (9:20 pm)

Part of the confusion is that your standard BB can be shot from anything from a simple lever action ‘Red Ryder’ BB rifle (very low FPS velocity) to a serious pump-action air rifle (e.g. Crossman, etc, with a muzzle velocity very close to a .22). Any BB-shooting weapon with the velocity to pierce a double-pane window from a car on the street is serious business (I’ve owned both kinds of BB guns, so I know of what I speak). Your garden variety Daisy BB gun wouldn’t do this kind of damage.

This is a serious crime and needs to be prosecuted as such.

NotMe November 8, 2010 (10:26 pm)

The gun did not shoot you, Sonoma… the person holding the gun did it. I am a gun defender, but only because I would never point a gun at anyone. Just because these a-holes did it, does not mean I have to relenquish my right to have a gun.
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Let’s try to keep our basic rights out of this, and try not to criminalize everything BUT the people that shot a bullet through a window.

redblack November 9, 2010 (5:53 pm)

hmm, notme, sonoma didn’t say anything about guns or the right to keep and bear arms (no matter how silly and puny those arms are.)
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s/he was talking about a-holes. specifically, anonymous, cowardly a-holes with tiny, annoying guns.
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while you do have the right to be an a-hole, you should pay the consequences if you violate someone else’s right to peace – whether it’s with a silly little gun or not.
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a night in jail would be great for these poorly-raised little creeps. but i won’t cry for them if they get some street justice (a bloody nose or a black eye; not death) as a result of angering the wrong person.
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it would probably teach them a better lesson.

NotMe November 9, 2010 (9:43 pm)

Ummm… redblack, you need to read Sonoma’s comment again.
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I am not going to get sucked into a debate about guns or whether or not people agree with “gun defenders” (Sonoma’s quote is being quoted) or if it is ok to have registered guns. Wanna know why? Because we still have the right (and the guns) and there is no way that can change.
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I do agree with you on your last 2 paragraphs… well said!

Noelle November 10, 2010 (1:24 am)

Remember when the group of youths were picking on the ducks/geese at the beach in Lincoln Park last summer? (WSB did a write-up about it) This BB Shooting activity seems like a new incarnation of that same sort of thoughtless mind set – bratty teens with too much time on their hands. They need more home work and things to do after school.

Sonoma November 10, 2010 (11:23 am)

I agree, Noelle. Thank you for being a voice of reason. You, too, Redblack. I certainly didn’t mean to get all you gun owners up in arms. Sheesh. It’s just that I felt certain gun defenders were minimizing the impact of certain kinds of weapons, i.e. BB guns. Fear not, I’m all for the right (and left) to bear arms if it’s important to them. And yes, PLEASE no further discussion of Constitutional rights. Bottom line: People who shoot BBs at people, private property, etc. are a-holes.