West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(UPDATED TUESDAY AFTERNOON with a few more details from SPD)
10:33 PM: Police and fire are just arriving at an “assault with weapons” callout reported to be a shooting in the 9400 block of 16th SW.
10:39 PM: Two suspects are reported to have run away from the scene and a K-9 team will be helping search for them. No word yet on the victim.
10:44 PM: We’re arriving at the scene and it’s more like 15th/Roxbury – there’s tape up on the east side of the Walgreens parking lot. Via radio, we’re hearing that the shooting victim is a 53-year-old man shot once in the lower left leg.
A week and a half ago, a man was shot in the leg directly across Roxbury from here; two suspects are in jail in connection with that shooting.
10:58 PM: All we know about the suspects so far is that they were last seen fleeing north on 15th SW from the Walgreens vicinity on the north side of Roxbury, and searchers are headed that way.
11:07 PM: Police say the victim was inside the Walgreens when they arrived; the shooting, however, was outside, and investigators found the shell casing.
They say the victim told them he has no idea who shot him or why. He’s on the way to the hospital via SFD Medic 32.
11:57 PM: More photos added. No word of any arrests so far – tracking from the scene did not pick up a trail; we’ll follow up.
ADDED 3:40 PM TUESDAY: A few more details via SPD Blotter, published a few minutes ago:
… (The victim) said he was walking around the back of the building when he was approached by two teen boys. He described the suspects as Latino with one wearing a baseball hat. One of the boys fired a gun striking the victim in the left leg. The victim last saw the two suspects running away on 15th Ave. SW.
Officers followed a trail of blood to the back of the store and found one .32 caliber shell casing. Medics took the victim to Harborview Medical Center where he is recovering from his injuries. If you have any information in this case, please call (206)233-5000.
After the first week of registration, 80 sales are on their way to the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day 2016 map – all sizes, all over the peninsula, all set for 9 am-3 pm on Saturday, May 14th. Thanks to everyone who’s signed up so far – including group and organization sales, block sales, and dozens of individual sales. Registration will be open for at least two more weeks – we usually set the deadline when we get to that last week and see how things are going. If you’re planning a sale, and have your up-to-20-words description ready, go here to sign up – remember that as always, it’s a two-step process, and you’re not done until you’ve made it through PayPal too (no, you don’t have to have an account). And if you have just a little bit of stuff to sell, and no room to sell it, check in with Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (4410 California SW) or C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW), both WSB sponsors, to see about a space at their multi-seller sites.
Four reader reports in tonight’s West Seattle Crime Watch update:
BURGLARY: From Dani in High Point: “My husband and I were burglarized on Saturday, April 9th around 8 AM, on Raymond & Lanham Place. I left with my dog and locked the door behind me. My husband was home. I was gone for roughly a half hour, and came home to a busted door (as though someone used a pry-bar or just kicked it in). Two wallets, my purse and cell phone were noticeably taken. A neighbor returned the purse and wallet (no contents missing but some sparse change), which were found in the High Point Commons Park. My husband then followed the trail of evidence and picked up several receipts from his wallet. He went up towards 30th & Graham St., and noticed his wallet had been tossed over someone’s fence. A minimal amount of cash was taken, but everything else in place but his ID. We are looking for ANYTHING that will jog memories.”
ATTEMPTED BREAK-IN: From Melissa: “Just wanted to let the blog know that we caught a man wearing a backpack and no shirt or pants attempting to break into our shed in the North Admiral area at 830 pm. After being unsuccessful he moved onto our neighbors’ shed. He was caught by police after a neighborhood search near the intersection of the West Seattle Bridge and Admiral.”
CAR PROWL/VANDALISM: Meredith says this happened at 19th and Austin: “Someone smashed in my rear car window with a brick last night between 3:30 am and 7 am. Nothing was taken. My car was parked just off the street in my driveway.”
PLAYGROUND VANDALISM: Over the weekend at Ercolini Park, someone defaced a fence with obscenities and play equipment with a vulgar sketch. Paul, who e-mailed us about it, reported it to police; we didn’t get to check with Parks today on whether it’s been painted over/removed yet but will tomorrow.
Two weeks into the work at 30th/Yancy/Avalon/Andover, SDOT says it’s about to switch sides from the west to the east:
Construction on the west side of SW Avalon Way at SW Andover St is progressing smoothly. The crews anticipate that they will wrap up the west side work and move over to build the east side improvements as soon as this Wednesday, April 13.
As a reminder, when crews are working on the east side of SW Avalon Way both 30th Ave SW and SW Yancy St will be closed at SW Avalon Way. Local access will be maintained from SW Genesse St and 28th Ave SW. Pedestrian access will be maintained through the work zone and crews will set up No Parking signs.
(Crow vs. bald eagle faceoff at Bar-S Playfield on Saturday: Photo by Tom Madden)
Belated edition of today’s calendar highlights – four possibilities for your Monday evening:
NEW MEETUP HOURS @ COMMUNITY ORCHARD: 5-7 pm Mondays is the new meetup/work party time at the Community Orchard of West Seattle on the north side of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus – details here. (6000 16th SW)
PHYSICAL THERAPY NIGHT: West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor) hosts “Physical Therapy Night” – get a free one:one injury assessment with Biojunction Sports Therapy. (2343 California SW)
TINKERLAB DROP-IN: Week 1 was a hit – don’t miss week 2 at Delridge Library! 6 pm, something STEM-based and fun for everyone, all ages, free! Details in our calendar listing. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 6:30 pm, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Agenda includes something many local community councils have been doing – brainstorming what to apply for in the Neighborhood Street Fund, a once-every-three-years city grant program whose deadline for this cycle is days away. Live or work in ND? (Or, even if you don’t – everybody’s welcome.) Be there! (4408 Delridge Way SW)
(WSB photo)
12:55 PM: If you haven’t seen the note in the WSB Forums – Pegasus Pizza on Alki is closed “for a few days” for remodeling work, starting today. It’s been eight years since the restaurant moved to 2770 Alki SW – a few steps west of its former location, which subsequently was demolished and replaced by the building that’s now home to Top Pot Doughnuts and Subway. The spokesperson who sent word of the closure hasn’t yet answered our followup question about the remodeling plan, but documents on file with the city mention the creation of office space and moving the exterior signage. We’ll update when we get word of their reopening date.
3:35 PM: Just went over to find out more. In addition to adding office space on the west end of the restaurant and moving the signage to the east end, they’re removing the raised half of the floor so it’ll be all one level.
(WSDOT photo from last month)
10:10 AM: During the City Council meeting that just got under way – as we’re reported and previewed – councilmembers are due to get an update on the Highway 99 tunnel project and the upcoming related Alaskan Way Viaduct closure. However, it doesn’t appear the long-awaited closure start date will be part of that briefing. WSDOT has just published the first official update in a week in a half and it again reiterates that date “isn’t yet known”:
Seattle Tunnel Partners has now completed more than 100 shifts of hyperbaric work inside the SR 99 tunneling machine. One of their biggest tasks – inspecting and replacing cutting tools on the machine’s face – is now complete.
Cutting tools are expected to wear down over time, and replacing them is a normal part of tunneling. Because most of the machine’s tools were replaced during the repair effort, STP chose to replace only 11 of the more than 700 tools they inspected in the weeks since the machine reached its planned maintenance stop near Yesler Way.
STP still has some routine maintenance left to complete. They have told us that the machine is functioning as intended and will soon be ready to tunnel beneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct. WSDOT will close the viaduct for approximately two weeks to allow the machine to pass beneath the structure. We will provide the public with advance notice of the closure, but the start date isn’t yet known. It will depend on how long the remaining maintenance takes to complete.
The update published on the WSDOT website also includes a reminder of the closure-plans website 99closure.org.
Meantime, we’ll update here when the council briefing gets under way (scheduled for 10:25 am – about 15 minutes from now) and will add any additional news that emerges.
10:28 AM: The briefing is starting – you can watch live via Seattle Channel, seattlechannel.org or cable channel 21.
(ADDED TUESDAY: Seattle Channel video of entire briefing)
They’re leading off with a “litigation update” – saying they’re “negotiating with STP about issues in dispute on the project,” so they might not be able to answer all questions.
WSDOT’s Todd Trepanier mentions STP bringing in new top managers from an overseas project and Councilmember Mike O’Brien breaks in to say “that we haven’t had the A-team on this since day one just kinda blows my mind.”
Back to what’s happening now, in addition to what WSDOT said this morning (see top of this story), Trepanier says, “(The contractors) still have quite a bit of work to do within the machine at the Safe Haven 3 location” where it’s stopped now.
10:48 AM: Now the briefing has moved to the closure preps, which have included weekly coordination meetings, WSDOT says. They reiterate that they’re committed to giving two weeks notice once the date has been chosen, which hasn’t happened yet, because as mentioned earlier, there’s still a lot to do. “Within the next month” remains their target. They’re reiterating that it’s a precautionary closure but its potential benefits would include quick access to the Viaduct if necessary.
It’s been reiterated, also, that the Viaduct itself is the only thing planned for closure – surface streets/sidewalks will remain open, though if something requires those to be closed, they have a contingency plan for that too. Meantime, the tunneling will continue around the clock during the trip under the Viaduct, with two 12-hour shifts instead of two 10-hour shifts as has been the contractor’s practice.
Trepanier says they will have a 24-hour command center open during the under-the-Viaduct tunneling, including city reps, as they make decisions bout managing traffic as well as tunneling operations. And they’re planning three conference calls a day.
11:05 AM: For the city, SDOT director Scott Kubly is speaking. The city will have incident-response teams and additional messaging signs. He also says that besides working with Metro and the Water Taxi, the city is “encouraging and working with” Uber and Lyft regarding their carpooling services. Council President Bruce Harrell asks followup saying city must be careful not to show favoritism over legacy taxi services, etc. Kubly says the city will add signal-timing engineer in Transportation Ops Center 6:30 am-8 pm during closure so there can be quick responses if intersection problems emerge. “It’s going to be a challenging commute … removing 60,000 vehicles and 30,000 transit riders off the Viaduct,” he says. Councilmember Lisa Herbold asks who’s in charge of the public notices regarding all this; she’s told the communications overview is coming up.
11:12 AM: Now it’s Metro’s turn. As previously announced, northbound reroutes are going on 4th Avenue. Herbold asks if the 5th Avenue busway was considered. “There’s a limited capacity (on that),” is the reply.
Councilmember Lorena González (a West Seattle resident) asks about the plans for getting people to the dock to use the Water Taxi without getting caught in the parking crunch down there. Though it hasn’t been detailed during this briefing, that’s mentioned toward the end of the slide deck (which you can see here). And the briefing wraps at 11:22. (We’ll add the archived meeting video atop this story once Seattle Channel has it up, likely by end of the day.)
Out of the WSB inbox this morning, from Jen:
We just reported our car stolen. It was stolen from our driveway sometime between 10pm and 5am this morning. It was a 2012 black VW Passat TDI; WA license plate AWL8083. We live on 36th and Juneau [map]. Please let us know if you see it!
(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
6:21 AM: Good morning! One incident of note so far this morning that was clearing when we were at the scene just before the top of the hour, covered separately here, a crash on southbound California just south of Admiral.
Otherwise: It’s spring-break week for Seattle Public Schools (and Vashon too), so traffic should be lighter. More notes as the week begins:
OVERNIGHT SB HIGHWAY 99 CLOSURE NORTH OF DOWNTOWN: This week, for each of four nights starting tonight, 10 pm-5 am, the closure will be southbound, between Valley and Thomas Streets.
WHAT’S UP WITH THE TUNNEL PROJECT/VIADUCT-CLOSURE PLAN? Hear for yourself during this morning’s 9:30 am City Council briefing.
MARINERS’ GAME TONIGHT: SODO evening alert – M’s vs. Rangers, 7:10 pm at The Safe.
6:02 AM: Thanks for the tips about a helicopter over The Admiral District about half an hour ago. It was *not* a police search, but just a media helicopter checking out a traffic situation. We’ve talked to officers at the scene of a crash that happened just before 5 am on southbound California just south of Admiral and is now being cleared – an SUV crashed into the back of a semitruck. Police say one person was taken to the hospital but their injuries were not life-threatening.
6:37 AM: Photo substituted for our original cameraphone photo above, and second one added above this line as semi was towed.
12:10 PM: The truck driver’s wife messaged us to say that while her husband, who was in the trailer when the SUV hit it, wasn’t hurt, police told them the driver fled and the injured person was one of multiple passengers. We’ll try to find out from police if the driver was ever found.
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