In case you’re wondering what the sirens were about

11:16 PM FRIDAY: Lots of sirens in the past half-hour in south West Seattle – ultimately not a big incident but since it sounded like one, some are asking about it. According to scanner traffic, there was some kind of clash at Southwest Community Center (2800 SW Thistle), and police were called to help get it under control. Many units rushed that way. They cleared the center, staff closed it, and then for a while they were monitoring groups of people dispersing eastbound on Thistle and southbound on Delridge. No injuries reported.

SATURDAY UPDATE: Police have now released more information; we have that and a brief clip of reader video (most notable for its audio) in this followup report.

Robindianne August 26, 2011 (11:23 pm)

Thanks! I was wondering.

concerned August 26, 2011 (11:27 pm)

We could hear yelling from the center all the way up onto Delridge. Once the police moved up onto Delridge and Thistle, after a few minutes, we went out to see what was going on. A police cruiser slowly drove by us and told us that it was very unsafe and a bad idea to be outside.

Mariah August 26, 2011 (11:29 pm)

Thank you.

Amanda Woods August 26, 2011 (11:33 pm)

Thanks so much for the information. I was concerned.

coffee_kisses August 26, 2011 (11:33 pm)

Things are tense here tonight. I’m wondering if revenge is running deep after last week’s shooting. I don’t have a good feeling.

Jamie August 26, 2011 (11:48 pm)

I heard that someone got shot

WSB August 26, 2011 (11:55 pm)

No, Jamie, nobody got shot. No medic calls in this at all.

Patrick August 26, 2011 (11:48 pm)

I live on thistle, a bunch of kids screaming and yelling…..again where are the parents….

Patrick August 27, 2011 (12:08 am)

Really getting tired of kids running free at all hours of the night and chief seath high school……

westseattledood August 27, 2011 (12:23 am)

I think SWCC had some kind of sanctioned late-night teen event scheduled to end around midnight or so.

Ed August 27, 2011 (7:36 am)

Seems to be getting worse quickly.
Daytime break-ins, cars stolen and car prowls, shootings, assults…etc.
Not much of a safe place anymore.

Wonder how West Seattle ranks to other parts of the city for this type of crime?

Arbor Heights Mom August 27, 2011 (8:25 am)

@Patrick, not certain about the intent of your statement, “Really getting tired of…and Chief Sealth High School…” This school is a community of great students and educators. I encourage you to participate in some of the many positive events to be held at the school this year. You will come away with a better outlook :-)

Matt August 27, 2011 (9:20 am)

Thanks for the info. I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but I still think there was more to it than they are saying. I live a block from there and there were no less than 12 police cars — including a black suburban. So please let us know if you find out anything else!

WSB August 27, 2011 (9:47 am)

The official call is on the log, now that several hours have passed, with the official classification “fight disturbance.”
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http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/incidentresponse.aspx
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No medic calls, meaning no one was injured. The big response is not surprising – if you have (I’m just guessing) 50, 75, 100 people gathered and something breaks out, even if every one of those police vehicles you counted had two officers in it, that’s still 24 of them to a rowdy crowd of angry people, and like a fire response, it’s “throw everything at it first, pull back if you have to.” I heard most of the scanner traffic and it was a matter of crowd control, dispersing, and then checking on smaller groups that headed out onto the street – there was a related call, for example, about 15 minutes later, of two people arguing at Delridge/Henderson (some blocks to the southeast). Also remember the late-night emphasis announced earlier in the summer – when something actually happens, they promised they’d throw everything they had at it, and this would qualify as the type of event they were worried about, though their areas of emphasis in West Seattle included High Point and Alki. – TR

Jiggers August 27, 2011 (10:23 am)

What were all the one’s I heard blaring at 6am this morning for about 15 minutes straight? Was is a police pow wow somewhere? It is summertime and the punks and drunks are hanging out until dawn.

WSB August 27, 2011 (10:31 am)

Heavy-rescue call on 17th. It was closed by the time I saw it; no one texted, called, tweeted, FB’d, e-mailed about it, so I am hopeful that means it was a “wasn’t as bad as it looked” crash…

Jim P. August 27, 2011 (11:37 am)

“told us that it was very unsafe and a bad idea to be outside.”

Doesn’t seem to square up with a “community meeting”. If this was some sort of “gang summit” or “peace talks”, I think the police or whoever organized it should have been obligated to warn the neighborhood and have patrols already in place.

I’d *really* like more info on just what the activity was since it was only a couple of blocks away and if I am going to have angry bands of roving “kids” or whatever this was in my area, I’d like to be able to have a proper reception prepared if they decide to involve me or my family or my home.

WSB August 27, 2011 (1:44 pm)

They offer “late night teen programs” at Southwest and other community centers around the city all the time. You can look it up; it’s on the city calendar. Who said it was a “gang summit”?
- WSB August 27, 2011 (3:08 pm)
  
  Update: Publishing a separate story shortly. Police don’t do this consistently, but they have written about the incident on SPD Blotter.
  .
  http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2011/08/27/large-scale-fight-disturbance/

Matt August 28, 2011 (11:07 am)

Thanks for the follow up!

Patrick September 2, 2011 (11:52 pm)

@harbor heights mom
I’m sure there are good students at seatlh high school, the ones i encounter smoke pot, shoot drugs, and are disrespectful. Going to a school event isn’t going to do anything….

Sorry, comment time is over.