Update: Busy morning for law enforcers in West Seattle

6:12 AM: At least one TV helicopter is hovering because of reported police activity. We’re working to find out what’s up. 6:44 AM UPDATE: Chopper left (its home base decided not to use its picture). We haven’t found the reported ground activity yet but have messages out to police.

7:26 AM UPDATE: For those still wondering, whatever it was happened fast. Sounds like classic early morning raid/warrant activity. Commenters saw in Gatewood and High Point. SPD media unit is working to gather info on whatever they can officially tell us news types, and we will update when that info is available. We have reported recently on raids in West Seattle also involving federal agents (there was a drug raid a week or so ago) – “ongoing investigation” was all that they could say back then – no indication yet on whether this was that type of thing.

10:01 AM UPDATE: Police say the 37th/Thistle vicinity activity (the one that initially drew the TV chopper) was a drug warrant. Then there was activity in High Point that some have mentioned; that was described by SPD as assisting the FBI – a commenter has shared information on that one which we are working to confirm with the federal authorities. As for Arbor Heights after that – SPD had no new incidents, so likely related to something from earlier. Thanks for the on-the-ground police sightings – in cases like that, that may be the most significant information we ever get.

MJC May 5, 2011 (6:41 am)

We live on the corner of Thistle and 40th, we heard the police response and are now hearing the helicopters. It sounds like they are directly over our home. I hope everything is going to be alright.

anonyme May 5, 2011 (6:43 am)

There was some kind of big action in Arbor Heights about 30 minutes ago at 35th & 102nd. Burning rubber, multiple police and unmarked SUV’s in pursuit of one or more vehicles. This is the area where the owner of the pit bulls that were shot some time ago resides in what the block watch believes to be a drug house. Don’t know if there is a connection or not, but it seems coincidental.

Karlynn May 5, 2011 (6:43 am)

Ugh. Nothing like being shaken awake by helicopters hovering over your house. I hope they catch em soon.

WSB May 5, 2011 (6:47 am)

Whatever it was, even the chopper (which can be monitored via scanner) told its desk that it was clearing up fast. So they were told they weren’t going to be used after all, and they split. We have messages out to police because we couldn’t find the activity on the ground. – TR

pam May 5, 2011 (6:47 am)

They chased us out of bed this morning,I watched the helicopters out our kitchen window for a bit. Eager to know what went down.

gatewoodearlywakeup May 5, 2011 (6:47 am)

We are same area and heard multiple sirens stop around here then the helicopter hovered for 15 minutes right over our house. It just left but now our lights are flickering so I wonder if there was a bad accident involved with a power pole.

danielle May 5, 2011 (6:50 am)

So this has nothing to do with my power going off 2 minutes ago? (34th and Thistle)

Cynthia May 5, 2011 (6:51 am)

First an unmarked police SUV zoomed past my house at 37th and cloverdale at about 6:10 AM with lights and siren on. Then about 5 minutes later what I thought was a police helicopter flew over and began circling. Then another helicopter showed up; I assumed this one was TV but I couldn’t see any markings. Between 5-10 minutes ago both helicopters left and the unmarked SUV drove away slowly, not in pursuit of anything. A lot of action for my quiet block! Like everyone else, I hope they got them.

holyhelicopternoise May 5, 2011 (6:52 am)

That early wake-up via helicopter for no picture is extremely annoying. Of course we don’t know what it was but it better be worth it SPD!! I am thinking of sending a cranky 3-year-old over to your precinct to ‘entertain’ you.

Wendy May 5, 2011 (6:53 am)

Heard the helicopter leave… Now we have no power?! 32nd & Holden… What activity this morning!

Cynthia May 5, 2011 (6:54 am)

My power has been flickering too. Weird!

C-Rad May 5, 2011 (6:55 am)

No power either at 31st and Barton.

TBW May 5, 2011 (6:55 am)

The police followed a silver sedan to a house on Sullivan St., two doors down from the corner of 39th and Sullivan. We saw them arrest one man. In all, there were about 30 police officers present, including 5-6 that appeared to be a SWAT team. It cleared up quickly around 6:45.

Jason May 5, 2011 (6:55 am)

Does the power outage have anything to do with this?

Losarayas May 5, 2011 (6:56 am)

Power’s out @29th and Trenton as well

joe May 5, 2011 (6:57 am)

Power went out about 10 minutes ago, 98th and 30th. Probably unrelated. Anybody else without power in the neighborhood?

joe May 5, 2011 (6:58 am)

guess so…

Kassy May 5, 2011 (6:59 am)

No power 34th and roxbury.

Rick May 5, 2011 (6:59 am)

No power at 29th and Webster… On the west side of 29th. Porch lights are on across th street on the east side of 29th

CB May 5, 2011 (7:02 am)

Anybody else infuriated about the 2 morning choppers? I see no legitimate reason for them to be disturbing the peace at 6:30am. I’ll be calling the station this morning to complain. Care to join in? Komo: (206) 404-4000 and Kiro: (206) 728-7777

Rich May 5, 2011 (7:03 am)

Cops walking up and down the yards at 30/102. Lots of them, but tapering off. I wonder what they’re looking for….

may May 5, 2011 (7:03 am)

Thistle in Gatewood – Heard sirens then helicopter then after copter left lights were flickering. Thank goodness we didn’t lose power need my coffee after that early wake up!

PK May 5, 2011 (7:04 am)

I heard the police cars screaming past about 45min ago. A few min ago I heard someone talking in my yard. When I looked out the window there were several unmarked police SUVs. An officer had a flashlight out & was searching for something or someone along our fence. By the time I made it outside the officers were gone. Now the unmarked SUVs are circling the block.

stacy May 5, 2011 (7:04 am)

Sirens, helicopter, power out at 32nd and barton too.

HP May 5, 2011 (7:08 am)

Something is going on in Highpoint too, saw FBI SWAT, numerous police cars. Strange that these events are all happening at the same time.

WSB May 5, 2011 (7:11 am)

HP, not strange, early morning is when raids/warrants generally happen; if it’s a coordinated operation – and even SPD media doesn’t know exactly what’s up yet but are checking – that would make sense – TR

Mike May 5, 2011 (7:09 am)

Unless you no more about this than the rest of us, or are the one’s being targeted by the police, too early to deride those involved at this point.

zzzzzzz May 5, 2011 (7:10 am)

Wrong answer if you are going to wake us all up you better use your pictures!!

Latvala May 5, 2011 (7:14 am)

Yes, there are unmarked cars parked and police searching through bushes on 102nd in Arbor Heights.

kc May 5, 2011 (7:14 am)

CB – they are protecting you, stop being ridiculous!

Alex May 5, 2011 (7:16 am)

Been checking WSB since the 1st chopper came over (as well as King & Komo, online & radio). Thanks for any info folks. Stay safe.

x May 5, 2011 (7:21 am)

The News is NOT protecting us. No need for the copters. Sounds like you weren’t here listening to the drone for 20 mins.

WSB May 5, 2011 (7:23 am)

In this case they didn’t even know what they were looking at. We’ve been guilty of reporting (why, what we’re doing right now, in fact) without knowing immediately what we were looking at, but at least we’re not making a racket. To them, it doesn’t matter, they’ll get info later and run a 20-second story; but we’ll be continuing to follow up. – TR

BC May 5, 2011 (7:21 am)

As mentioned earlier, a silver sedan stopped on Sullivan St., and a male and female got out and started running. Two black SWAT SUVs came up the street from both sides, and the male ran into a backyard. Neighbors pointed police to the yard, and from the sounds of it, they found him hiding in the yard and took him into custody.

Police thought the female from the car was a neighbor and told her to get back in the house, so she took the opportunity to walk away while police were arresting the male.

HP May 5, 2011 (7:21 am)

That makes sense as I assume drug dealers are not morning people.

x May 5, 2011 (7:30 am)

Oh I forgot to say EXCEPT for the blog!! First thing I checked when I woke up. So hopefully the WS blog never gets a helicopter :) Good job blog thanks for the great info!

waman May 5, 2011 (7:56 am)

Saw a foot officer with dog walking up our street north (40th sw between 98th and 100th Ave) at 6:45 ish. Yikes!

John May 5, 2011 (8:05 am)

At approximately 6:25 I saw a police officer handcuff a 20 something woman with blonde hair at approximately Thistle and whatever the street is about 3 blocks east of California. Unmarked dark green Crown Victoria.

Alex May 5, 2011 (8:41 am)

Met some very nice SWAT officers at Star$$$ – they couldn’t tell me what, but said there was alot going on – but only lasted about 15 minutes

FantasticJuan May 5, 2011 (8:49 am)

I woke up and looked out the window to find a SPD car blocking Graham @ High Point Drive, another unmarked car blocking High Point, a FBI truck (think SWAT van) with several heavily armed FBI agents standing around the back, an unmarked car blocking a driveway in a nearby alley and about 3 other unmarked cars parked near the intersection. I took some pictures and put them on The Facebook. By the time I saw it everything seemed to be over (they were all standing around talking).

gary May 5, 2011 (9:02 am)

Several officers scouring the streets on foot, between Roxbury/35th and 98th/41st

LR May 5, 2011 (9:24 am)

I saw K-9 unit and other unmarked police cars parked along 37th between Cambridge and Roxbury around 8:35-9:00 am. Officers were walking around, “looking for evidence,” one told me. They seem to be gone now.

local May 5, 2011 (9:24 am)

I was also curious about the helicopters and police activity in the hood this morning. When I got to work at the federal court, I found out what at least some of it was about. James M. Flowers, Jr was arrested on drug distribution and gun charges. He’ll be appearing before the Magistrate Judge at 2:30pm this afternoon.

Thanks for working my neighborhood, officers. I’m never sad to see another drug dealer leave West Seattle!

WSB May 5, 2011 (10:00 am)

Local – if you are right, that’s the guy we covered at 41st/Edmunds a while back, who, as we also reported, was let out. Checking!!!! If that was the High Point arrest (I believe that’s where he lived), that was FBI/SPD. The one at 37th/Thistle vicinity was SPD only, also narcotics.

buddsmom May 5, 2011 (9:33 am)

To CB….Calling to complain about the choppers will do nothing except raise your blood pressure. There is nothing that can be done. It is open air space and past 6 AM noise abatement.

buddsmom May 5, 2011 (10:12 am)

To X…News choppers are often used in the apprehension of suspects when Guardian One is not available. I know KIRO has helped out various police agencies over the years on more than one occasion.

WSB May 5, 2011 (10:30 am)

Buddsmom – there have been the occasional cases but trust me, having worked in TV news for 15 years in Seattle, including at a chopper-equipped station, you do that sort of thing VERY sparingly and at great lengths of discussion first, as it really crosses the journalist/etc. line. If it is truly a matter of MASSIVE public safety, well, we’re all citizens first and journalists or whatever second, but news choppers don’t just say hi, we’re here, we’ll tell ya where we’re seeing the bad guy! It is more common that they might assist on the occasional search/rescue (lost hiker, etc.) – that’s not so much of a line-crosser. And we were monitoring the scanner traffic this morning on their frequencies. They weren’t out catching anybody. Somebody obviously called them and said “bunch of cops in my hood, what’s up” and since the chopper was up already for morning traffic, they went over to look. Since it was a search warrant situation, at this point detailed information is highly unlikely, but we’re continuing to ask – TR

Local May 5, 2011 (10:29 am)

I can confirm the Flowers arrest this morning. He’s sitting at the US courthouse awaiting his initial appearance this afternoon. I pay attention when federal cases are getting worked in WS.

WSB May 5, 2011 (10:36 am)

Local – I know, but without knowing who you are or on what authority you speak (and I know you almost certainly can’t tell me!), I have to have the official information from the official sources. Whom I have already contacted; hope to hear back soon. thanks – TR

clark5080 May 5, 2011 (10:52 am)

I know my wife said there were detectives scouring the neighborhood around 37th and 98th in Arbor heights as she was walking to the bus

buddsmom May 5, 2011 (11:02 am)

WSB I DO work for one of the above stations and have for about as long as you did. We have been over the scene of hot pursuits and given The PD coordinates of the suspect etc.

37th ave SW May 5, 2011 (11:32 am)

When I saw the choppers I went to WSB first. Once I read what was going on, I went on with my morning. Why are people so upset about helicopters? It was early, sure, but calling to complain seems a little crazy to me. Unless you were the one being arrested, you were really only being inconvenienced by some noise. Chill out West Seattle!

buddsmom May 5, 2011 (11:51 am)

THANK YOU, 37th!

Steph in WS May 5, 2011 (12:08 pm)

See! Highland Park/Whitecenter is not the only place that has this kind of junk going on. So many people complain here about those “trashy” areas. Can’t now!

Brian Zenk May 5, 2011 (12:57 pm)

The chopper hovered over directly over our house on Kenyon Street when it first arrived in the area. The sound inside the house was amazing.

anonyme May 5, 2011 (3:17 pm)

I never even heard the helicopters, didn’t even know anything was going on until half a dozen police and federal vehicles went screaming up SW 102nd St. Normally I’m super sensitive to noise, but if anything, I like the helicopters. They let me know that something is up so that I can double check the doors and windows and keep an eye out. Maybe wait a while to walk the dog.

NotMe May 5, 2011 (10:29 pm)

How does a TV station helicopter or news person begin helping the police? Seems to me they would need a series of briefings, photos and descriptions of people and cars, all kinds of things. Give me a break. The “news” is reporting what they see. They aren’t out there to help the police.

Sorry, comment time is over.