West Seattle Crime Watch: Gunfire hits house twice in one week

| Crime | West Seattle news

The house at 20th SW/SW Cloverdale hit by gunfire last Saturday night was shot at again last night, according to police. From SPD Blotter:

The Gang Unit is investigating the second shooting in a week at a West Seattle home. This morning at approximately 1:32 am, officers were dispatched to a drive-by shooting at a house in the 2000 block of SW Cloverdale St. Upon arrival, they located damage from small caliber rounds in the outer wall of the house.

One bullet fragment was removed from the wall and placed into evidence. The only two people home at the time of the shooting were the parents of the family. There is no suspect information and there were no witnesses to the shooting. The residents of the house claim they have no idea as to why anyone would target their home. This is the second drive-by shooting at this house in a week.

Everyone at the scene tonight denied any gang affiliation, but the stairs leading to the front door were tagged with gang graffiti. There were no reported injuries. The Gang Unit responded and processed the scene.

Besides the two incidents involving that house, there’s been at least one other confirmed gunfire case in West Seattle this past week – as we reported last Monday morning, casings were found near 10th SW and SW Elmgrove after people heard shots. No injuries have been reported in any of these incidents.

West Seattle Hipster March 16, 2013 (11:33 am)

We need new city leadership, one that cares more about the safety of our citizens rather than special interest groups.

MandW March 16, 2013 (11:38 am)

Does anyone know what the gang graffiti looks like? My apartment storage has some graffiti and I’d go erase them if that has anything to do with it. Quite scared as a parent of young children.

WSB March 16, 2013 (2:09 pm)

MandW – I should have added here as a tag (pardon the term) and I will now – graffiti is on the agenda for the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council this Tuesday. That will include how to tell the difference between non-gang and likely-gang tagging/graffiti vandalism. No matter WHAT it is, you want to paint it out immediately – or as soon as possible. The Tuesday meeting, to which you can bring your concerns and questions as well as just coming to listen to the presentation, is at 7 pm (March 19) at the Southwest Precinct meeting room (parking lot accessible off Webster, just west of Delridge).

Gyngersnap March 16, 2013 (11:46 am)

It’s 1:32 AM. Do you know where your children are, parents of the kids who live in this house that’s been shot at twice in one week?

JamestheYounger March 16, 2013 (11:56 am)

I know its a stretch, but Im just guessing here that there actually IS a gang connection to the home occupants but that they are simply not cooperating fully. So, as long as they hit the right house and don’t injure any bystanders I don’t think there is much more we can do. Maybe the occupants like getting shot at every other week or so? Who can say about people nowdays…

QQman March 16, 2013 (12:15 pm)

Sorry Hipster, but once again you are wrong. You’re blaming gang related violence on city officials, instead of looking at the root of the problem. Eradicating crime is not the city officials responsibility, it’s all of ours. We, as a community need to look for reasons why this is happening and what can be done to change it. You can’t just sit and wait for goverent officials to come in and save the day, it doesn’t work that way. Wether it’s improving education, providing better resources for youngsters to keep them off the streets, contacting property owners who rent to these thugs and letting them know what’s going on or countless other options, IT HAS TO BEGIN WITH US, and not government. Changing the faces of those who govern won’t change the policies.

Missliss March 16, 2013 (12:17 pm)

What does that even mean, WSH?

Seattlite March 16, 2013 (12:41 pm)

QQman — You are correct, and you stated it very well. Today’s government is recruiting victims with entitlement policies. We the people need to get back our foundation: religion, family unit (including mom and dad or two repsonible adults) moral and ethic standards, understanding that education is power and learning to be self-sufficient by earning your own way. These thugs do not have a foundation, therefore, they have no boundaries of right and wrong.

J March 16, 2013 (12:41 pm)

100% agreed QQman.

Heather March 16, 2013 (1:25 pm)

Geez people. Really? How about creating urban communities, interesting and challenging activities for preteen and teens to be involved in locally that aren’t cost prohibitive…kids that are involved with gangs come from all types of families – including man/woman family unit. I, for one, think that bringing small businesses back into the community discourages daily commuting and allows for community growth, interaction with your neighbors, and if those businesses work with youth it helps to create respect, expectation and value for a young person.

miws March 16, 2013 (1:47 pm)

Well said, Heather.

Mike

m March 16, 2013 (1:49 pm)

@ JamestheYounger & Gyngersnap…while you could be right in your assumptions (although I can’t imagine anybody who “likes getting shot at every week or so”), you also, quite possibly, could be wrong. Seems you have very little information to go on at this point in drawing any conclusions.

Teri Ensley March 16, 2013 (2:30 pm)

Yes, well stated Heather.

West Seattle Hipster March 16, 2013 (5:01 pm)

I have a feeling that once the new mayor is elected and a new police chief is appointed, we should see some improvement. Despite misleading statistics, crime is getting increasingly worse, especially in West Seattle. Public safety citywide has deteriorated, while tax dollars have been wasted on frivolous nonsense.

Ask yourself; do you feel safer than you did 6 years ago?

justme March 16, 2013 (6:01 pm)

WSH, no I don’t feel any safer than I did 6 years ago now that you mention it. And I also know from first hand experience working with youth that providing “interesting activities” for teens after school, on weekends, and evenings does not improve the bottom line. The gangsters always show up and ruin it for the rest of the bunch.

I’d like to see a government funded mandatory bootcamp for any minor caught in any kind of gang relationship. Pull them out of their homes and give it to them like the military. Tear them down, and build them up.

wetone March 16, 2013 (6:21 pm)

Your right WSH this town and state has got a lot worse in the last few years. Mosty do to the policies put in place by are elected officials. Criminals and gangs know they can come here and do as they wish with very little resistance or consequence. Years ago they worked hard to clean gang activity up and it worked well, now with the people we have in charge there coming back.

oz March 16, 2013 (6:55 pm)

to hipster, are you kidding me are you seriously blaming shottings on city officials you must be insane. the only special interest group you can try to blame is the parents of the people doing the shooting for not taking an interest in what their children and what they are doin. in the end if you outlaw guns only outlaw will have them.

East Coast Cynic March 16, 2013 (7:28 pm)

We’ve had recession/depression economic conditions for many who do not write code or design fuselages for Boeing which has in all likelihood aggravated the crime problem in the city. A better economy and better educational opportunities for people to obtain good living wage jobs would go a long way.

Heather, it would be great if some of our local companies built campuses and located offices in neighborhoods like ours in the city rather than eastside cowpatches:).

mike March 16, 2013 (7:50 pm)

100% agree with Heather.

Neighbor March 16, 2013 (8:23 pm)

Actually another 5 plus shots were fired again @ 5:30 a.m. at the house – immediate police response.

neighbor March 16, 2013 (8:32 pm)

The children that live in this house are not teens ot preteens they are in their early to mid twenties so they may have been at ac a club like other people their age.

Ray March 16, 2013 (9:20 pm)

Sorry. Disagree. These people, children, adults WHATEVER, CHOOSE to get involved with these activities (gangs, shootings, graffiti). No one is making them. We need a more rigid police force to enforce consequences. We all interact together through rule of law and cooperation. Those that chose to operate outside the social contract do not and should not benefit from their actions, especially when they are at the expense of others.

Ray March 16, 2013 (9:21 pm)

Addendum to the story, there is a TV news van of some sort outside the house all day Saturday, and they have the lights on and cameras up for what I presume is the evening news.

WSB March 16, 2013 (9:23 pm)

Yes, somebody flagged us that two TV news vans were in the area earlier. Haven’t seen either of their stories yet – they all pick up reports from SPD Blotter as well.

neighbor March 16, 2013 (9:28 pm)

Just saying dont make assumptions unless you have all the facts. This is very scary for me since i live close to this house.

CJ March 16, 2013 (9:53 pm)

It brings comfort to blame the victim, feel that it couldn’t happen to you because you make good decisions. Maybe they are affiliated with a gang, maybe not. My house was shot at a few years ago, or someone shot their gun off outside my home as they drove by and the bullets happened to hit my home and garden. Maybe they were shooting at a raccoon.. I have no idea. I live in N.Admiral and have no gang affiliation.

E March 16, 2013 (11:13 pm)

Are we allowed to paint over graffiti on fire hydrants? I reported one near my house quite a while ago and have gotten no response from the city. But I’m afraid of somehow painting shut the hydrant or breaking the law if I cover the marks myself.

neighbor March 16, 2013 (11:44 pm)

Exactly my point cj reserve judgement until you know for sure why this happened

westseattledood March 17, 2013 (12:48 am)

If this block and the surrounding blocks do not have some kind of block watch, this is a good time to reactivate old block watches and start new ones.

Contact:

1) SW Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon
2) WS Blockwatch Captains Network.
3) Jon Keihn – SW Precinct Community Officer

And your neighbors. Organize your building, your floor, your block.

Keep an eye on each other. Work with Property Managers!

And for goodness sakes, keep after the graffiti and tags – regardless of whether they are gang signs or not – all tags disrespect property and the neighbors who live there. The community should *never* just accept them. Keep primer around. I did notice today that a number of the tags on Delridge have been removed. But, there are still too many around. I understand that it might be hard to keep after, but really self-respecting neighborhoods will not stand for that kind of visible trashing of property.

WSB has provided info on the upcoming meeting about Graffiti – head on over and ask your questions and then share that info with everybody on a newly formed blockwatch.

Seriously. Start watching out for each other with Block Watches.

And, call 911 when you hear or see anything.

Do NOT call the non-emergency number people!

The right thing to do is to call 911 even if you aren’t sure what you heard or what you have seen – call 911. It is ok to call SPD. They will check on it, but people have to call 911 immediately if you can.

pjmanley March 17, 2013 (11:22 am)

Paint over graffiti today! It’s nothing more than wolf piss. If you don’t fix it quick, more wolves will be on the way.
Then go about saving society with programs or electing the right people, supporting small biz, and on and on.
Some a$$hole marks a house with graffiti, then another a$$hole shoots it up. Speculate & argue why? Or grab your paint buckets and do something about it, now, before their paint is even dry! Take back your neighborhood before the thugs own it! Do not wait!

pjmanley March 17, 2013 (11:24 am)

@E: Don’t wait, grab your Krylon & paint over it. It’s a public safety issue.

Clif smith March 17, 2013 (11:32 pm)

E, Paint over graffiti, I am not sure if it is legal or not,but I know if a cop drove by and saw someone painting OVER a tag (especially one gang related) they wouldn’t care. You can’t paint a fire hydrant shut, firefighters can crank those things off like nothing with a wrench, a couple blasts from a can of spray paint or some house paint wont get in their way of getting a hose hooked to it if they need to put out a fire.
You can also order graffiti removal wipes from Worlds Best Graffiti Removal. I used to have a tag removal business and out of all the products, sprays, chemicals, and paint I used, those worked the best. They also have paint on chemicals that will only remove the spray paint and not the paint on the hydrant itself.
Also, during all my time removing graffiti, I was never contacted by any law enforcement. A few tenants of buildings that didn’t know I would be there, some on lookers in Downtown, but cops just drove past. So I doubt there would be any issues with police, even if there was, if you just explain the situation to them, they most likely would not have any problem with it. It saves them paying someone like me to do it for them. Also the faster a tag is removed the less likely they will return. Taggers (gangs especially) want 2 things either notoriety (non gang taggers mostly, who want to see how long their “work” stays “up” on your house), Gangs use it more to stake their claim to that neighborhood, and intimidate enemies , gang tags are fast and simple, numbers, basic symbols, and a few letters. Taggers who tag as art, put lots of time and effort into their work.If you paint over the gang tag, they will tag somewhere where they can advertise longer. If you paint over the “masterpiece” someone just painted, they wont want to hit you again because they weren’t up long enough to make it worth it to them, no other taggers will see it. 98% of the time, if you paint over it within 24 hours it wont come back, and that statistic is proven for gangs and taggers. If it comes back again, paint over it within 24 hours, and it wont come back. Try to add an extra light to the area that got tagged. Taggers like dark, and criminals in general don’t like being seen, so the more light the better. Hope that helps answer some questions. Also to see what gang tags look like check out http://www.nwgangs.com

Marivel March 18, 2013 (9:39 pm)

Well for everybody who wants to know we (the teenagers that live in this house) were actually bowling that night. They close the bowling alley at 2 a.m. And we choose to go out on the weekends because we work and go to school during the week and so we don’t upset our neighbors by staying up or making noise at our place. And for the people that say we have something to do with gangs I have one question for you… Why hasn’t anything happened to the other guys and why are we getting the cops involved.