75 Replies to "DOWNTOWN ALERT: Buses rerouted because of shooting investigations; Water Taxi adds runs"

• JasonG January 22, 2020 (4:08 pm)

  Yep, southbound C Line from South Lake Union was rerouted (on it now), driver got on loudspeaker and explained the SPD street closure.  Well-handled. 

• newnative January 22, 2020 (4:40 pm)

  Looks like Bell Street stop is also being passed over? That means West Seattle-bound buses will have to be caught downtown. (120, 56, 57)

• East coast cynic January 22, 2020 (4:41 pm)

  That explains why I got on a 21X at 3rd and Seneca that was 31 minutes late.  Good job SPD and KCPD in neutralizing the suspect. 

• David January 22, 2020 (5:08 pm)

  Another “scenes of violence” call just got dispatched to 3rd and Pike. Don’t count on busses returning to third any time soon.

• Brenda January 22, 2020 (5:12 pm)

   Two shootings within the hour downtown. 

• CAM January 22, 2020 (5:13 pm)

  Lots and lots of sirens still headed in that direction. There’s also hardly any bus traffic headed south (from the 3rd and Seneca perspective after about 15 mins of waiting) so it seems like if you can wait to go home you might want to. 

• Ws January 22, 2020 (5:18 pm)

  My husband reported more shooting about 15 minutes ago near 4th and pine.  They had to run into a Walgreens.

• CAM January 22, 2020 (5:20 pm)

  It looks like there’s a new issue at 3rd and Pike-ish that is stopping all traffic now. 

• AdmiralDad January 22, 2020 (5:28 pm)

  Looks to be a second shooting by the McDonalds on 3rd and Pine.  Watched as they put up the police tap blocking north and south bound traffic.  Heading for the water taxi 

• old timer January 22, 2020 (5:30 pm)

  TV news says more shooting has closed 3rd & Pine to 4th & Pine.  McDonalds is central point. Multiple victims.

  • WSB January 22, 2020 (5:32 pm)

    I’ve updated above. The second incident is reported by SFD to have “multiple patients.” Guess we’ll keep this atop the home page a while.

• CAM January 22, 2020 (5:32 pm)

  Buses just started getting through again at Seneca. 

• Powe January 22, 2020 (5:34 pm)

  I heard gunshots at 5pm, / i’m above 3rd at Pike, then noticed traffic stopped and backed-up on 3rd. Then EMS storming down roads. I also saw someone running from 3rd to Pike and down towards the Market. 

• Sarah Reichenbach January 22, 2020 (5:37 pm)

  Just an FYI – buses were re-routed to 2nd Ave (including and up through the 3rd and Seneca stop). The 120 stopped in front of the VA regional office on 2nd between Madison and Marion)

  • CAM January 22, 2020 (5:43 pm)

    THANK YOU!!! I’ve been refreshing metro over and over again waiting for an announcement and nothing!

    • WSB January 22, 2020 (5:50 pm)

      Metro hasn’t updated its alerts (we get them all in multiple modes) in more than half an hour. Just heard on one frequency, “A Metro supervisor is directing traffic at 3rd and Pike,” so they sound a little overwhelmed too. Thanks again to everyone for firsthand updates.

      • NH January 22, 2020 (6:06 pm)

        Just caught a 55 at 2nd and Columbia. Driver’s stopping at all the stops on 2nd, heard him saying they don’t know what’s going on as far as rerouting. Glad to have caught a bus!! 

  • Harvey January 22, 2020 (6:06 pm)

    Same for 132 (sodo/ burien). Driver said they were routed off 3rd to 2nd, not told if/when to go back to 3rd. Assuming same deal for similar routes 131, 125, etc. Worth checking 2nd and Marion if 3rd is still empty.

• Leigh Kenner January 22, 2020 (5:41 pm)

  I was a block away when this happened, 4th and Blanchard. Sounded like fireworks but it was like 20 gun shots. Lots of police. My building was on lockdown for 20 min 

• songstorm January 22, 2020 (5:44 pm)

  North bound light rail has been suspended. Southward trains only.

• Dm January 22, 2020 (5:48 pm)

  Any news from 125 bus riders? This is all so sad and scary to hear about. I hope the victims will be okay….

• Astro January 22, 2020 (5:55 pm)

  Thanks for the info Songstorm. I just heard from my guy that the train only goes to Capital Hill and then everyone is shuttled to Pioneer Square. I wish Metro and SPD were more coordinated at communicating. Thank you again WSB for your work.

• 1000amys January 22, 2020 (6:00 pm)

  My wife was on a southbound light rail train and they were asked to leave the train at Capitol Hill and find a bus downtown. Of course no buses are going downtown. She is walking downtown on Madison, hoping to avoid the scene and connect with the 120. She assures me she is staying in well-lit areas. I’m not super reassured. 

  • CAM January 22, 2020 (6:09 pm)

    There are a lot of people out there trying to find a bus so she likely has a lot of people around her if that is comforting. For those still looking for a bus (I lucked out after an hour) try 2nd Ave maybe. I flagged down a rerouted C between Marion and Madison and am almost home. The stop at 2nd and Washington is definitely active. 

  • Astro January 22, 2020 (6:10 pm)

    1000Amys I  don’t like that one bit. I’m thinking good thoughts that everyone who lives in W. Sea makes it home safe. :(Thank you for your post.

  • songstorm January 22, 2020 (6:14 pm)

    Sound Transit suggests taking the streetcar to the ID station and board the train there. Sounds like there is service except at Westlake and University stations.

    • 1000amys January 22, 2020 (6:33 pm)

      Thanks, everyone! She made it onto a bus on 2nd. Phew! Hope everyone else makes it through safely as well, and that the victims recover. 

  • Trudy January 22, 2020 (6:59 pm)

    So the 120 is running on 2nd ave? Even at virgina. My daughter is trying to get home.

    • Trudy January 22, 2020 (7:31 pm)

      Were still trying to find her a bus home. Metro call center said to go to 5th and wall. Any advice from fokes who made it home? She needs an accessible route (no steep hills) looking for a 120 or even a 21 to westwood. She was at 3rd and Virginia

      • KM January 22, 2020 (7:52 pm)

        3rd and Columbia-ish, can’t remember which street the stop is at, was fine. Erratic schedule, but 21 was serving that stop.

• Seattle Home January 22, 2020 (6:04 pm)

  This is so shocking and I feel really sad. 

• Sarah January 22, 2020 (6:06 pm)

  I just arrived to SeaTac. Is the light rail running at all? Was going to the U district.

  • songstorm January 22, 2020 (6:39 pm)

    I just got an alert that service has resumed but is delayed (understandable). 

• Dm January 22, 2020 (6:07 pm)

  I neglected to say thank you West Seattle Blog! I’m in the U District trying to figure out how I will get home on the bus, and the blog is the real time info I’m relying on!

• Jay January 22, 2020 (6:09 pm)

  I (and 50 of my new best friends) caught a 125 at its normal stop at 3rd and Seneca. Slow-going but stayed on route so far, headed through sodo now.

• WS Bus Rider January 22, 2020 (6:11 pm)

  I usually get the s/b 55 at 3rd and Blanchard. Was able to flag down a 55 re-routing down 2nd Ave. Driver hasn’t received any instructions from metro so was just winging it and stopping at any stop. Did a great job maneuvering the mess.

• Erika January 22, 2020 (6:14 pm)

  I was able to get on the C line on 2nd Ave between Marion and Madison about 6 minutes ago. I usually take the 120 but didn’t want to risk it and for it never to come. 

• Alki resident January 22, 2020 (6:19 pm)

  One person died so far from this horrific shooting. My heart breaks for their family. Prayers to everyone involved downtown. 

• NW January 22, 2020 (6:21 pm)

  Route 60 that starts in  Capitol Hill and ends at Westwood village would be a good alternative route in a case like this. Additionally as I have mentioned before West Seattle Transit Group could help in cases like this for people switching up their normal route.

• David January 22, 2020 (6:23 pm)

  Got lucky and managed to catch an almost empty SB 21x at 2nd and Spring NS while it was travelling off route.  It would be nice if metro could publish their alternate route info somewhere so the rest of my neighbors can get home this evening.

• just wondering January 22, 2020 (6:25 pm)

  Where is Mayor Durkin?

  • WSB January 22, 2020 (6:30 pm)

    Having covered a fair amount of big stories in my TV days, I comeented to co-publisher P that I would expect to see her at a briefing soon. This is definitely a mayoral-level incident. However, looking at her Twitter feed, it looks like she’s at a conference out of town.

  • dawsonct January 22, 2020 (8:05 pm)

    What do you want her to do, provide rides in her POV to stranded commuters?

    • T January 23, 2020 (8:36 pm)

      Clean up the city.

  • flimflam January 22, 2020 (8:16 pm)

    she would be of no use here…sadly.

  • Waiting... January 22, 2020 (9:51 pm)

    …for staffers to create talking points for her. 

  • Rio Del Sol January 22, 2020 (10:20 pm)

    Is she supposed to go into a shooting zones now? Too bad you missed it, but she responded.

    • WSB January 22, 2020 (11:28 pm)

      Her office issued this statement a couple hours ago:
      https://durkan.seattle.gov/2020/01/mayor-jenny-durkan-issues-statement-on-downtown-shooting/

  • Rick January 23, 2020 (10:42 am)

    Probably doing a walking tour of the “nice” crime free parts of town for the cameras.

    • WSB January 23, 2020 (11:49 am)

      Mayor’s returning from the conference in time for a 1:15 pm update event at the downtown precinct with Chiefs Best and Scoggins. They plan to stream at https://youtu.be/5qyEG5QgeO0 … we published these updates yesterday because of the West Seattle-bound travel effects, and that’s all over, so we’re not planning on further updates, but in case anyone’s interested, there you go.

• Mary D January 22, 2020 (6:36 pm)

  Waiting for 6:45 water taxi, still room open here for folks who can make it to last boat!. 3rd ave bus stops looked super crowded. 

• JayDee January 22, 2020 (6:38 pm)

  And why didn’t metro mention the second ave re-route? Not that it would have mattered since gridlock was/is the norm. I took a cab from the Ferry Terminal because I wanted to get home after a long day at work. The Cabbie didn’t drop his flag so I going to complain. Though he did get me home. I should have just gone to the cabbie waiting behind him, but I didn’t notice the  meter wasn’t running.  

• West Seattle since 1979 January 22, 2020 (7:00 pm)

  I just had an email from King County Water Taxi that they’re adding runs to alleviate the congestion. 

  • WSB January 22, 2020 (7:05 pm)

    Thanks, adding that, have been in transit to a meeting the past few mins so running a bit behind.

• Ktrapp January 22, 2020 (7:03 pm)

  I usually take the 21 at 3rd and Virginia, but got the notice that stop was closed due to the earlier shooting.  So I walked to the 3rd and Pine stop, getting on at 4:45.  Looks like I missed the shooting by about 15 minutes.  Yesterday I saw the cop cars at Westlake when that guy was killed there.This is insanity.  

• K January 22, 2020 (7:07 pm)

  Just notified of Water Taxi extra runs- To help alleviate congestion downtown, the West Seattle Water Taxi is adding sailings from Pier 50 to Seacrest park in West Seattle tonight

• Anu January 22, 2020 (7:20 pm)

  Light Rail is supposed to have resumed operations as of about an hour ago. No idea if it is reliable though since the Light Rail hasn’t been reliable even in normal circumstances.

  • dawsonct January 22, 2020 (8:17 pm)

    Sorry for your misfortune. In the many tens of dozens of times I have ridden it, I’ve never had any issues, nor has anyone I know who wasn’t already opposed to the idea of public transit solutions. Almost as though they actively seek to be offended by any perceived slight, or a delay in the system. After all, one can’t really expect it to function as seamlessly as highways and individually controlled POV’s, amiright?Of course I am. That was rhetorical.

    • Anu January 22, 2020 (9:27 pm)

      @DAWSONCT: I didn’t mean to offend anyone. We’ve all had a long day. Not that I need to justify myself to you, but I have been using public transit in Seattle for the past 10 years. I don’t even own a car. So please don’t judge without knowing anything about me. Secondly, I don’t know if you’ve been on the Light Rail since January 6th. Service is currently reduced with trains running only every 15 minutes and no set time schedule. It has been challenging for those of us who take two modes of transport to get to work (bus+train) as we cannot time our commute anymore. We just have to go wait at the station for the train to arrive. And this is not a small inconvenience. It’s going to continue for 10 weeks.  Yes, you’re right that Light Rail usually runs fine…. this current system isn’t ideal though. That’s all I was referring to.

• Ken January 22, 2020 (7:24 pm)

  We need good police service  24/7 downtown seattle at all times. Their presence should be noticed by all people, especially on 3rd, 4th avenues.

  • Alki resident January 22, 2020 (8:21 pm)

    There’s always a police presence down there. They can’t be on every street. 

    • Fg January 23, 2020 (9:05 am)

      Sorry to tell you there is not always a police presence . I catch my bus at 3 and Pine and hardly ever do you see any police presence and definitely none  on the weekend . We need to take our city back . This is happening way to much . 

  • WR January 22, 2020 (9:25 pm)

    Absolutely agreed.  It does not have to be so incredibly sketchy and dangerous down there.  We need far more police so that they can have a much better presence in certain areas. Like where this unfortunately happened.I think the public would be willing to fund more police. Only my opinion.

• Michael January 22, 2020 (7:25 pm)

  Too late to help anyone but I just got a text alert noting added sailing(s) on the Water Taxi, the last being at 7:30

• Diane January 22, 2020 (7:35 pm)

  latest reports say 8 shot, 1 woman died at the scene, 7 taken to Harborview (age 9 to 55)

• JayDee January 22, 2020 (8:00 pm)

  I subscribe to just three Metro text alerts: 56, 57, and 50. This is what Metro sent out:

  Metro Transit Alert Update – Buses in downtown Seattle continue to be rerouted off 3 Av between Wall St & Pike St, and off Blanchard St west of 5 Av.

  Ok, which streets are my buses being routed down? Who knows? Are any of my three buses being rerouted? Where will they pick up? Maybe just the 56/57 since they are the only ones who got stalled tonight? I know the 50 was running but I couldn’t get on Sound Transit (I know, perhaps the shooter was planning on taking the Sounder). That being said why didn’t Metro alert 56/57 riders because they know who we are? Get with 2020 Metro.

• NW Mama January 22, 2020 (8:18 pm)

  Water taxi to the rescue once again! 

  • Nelida Howell January 22, 2020 (8:28 pm)

    Do you know if the 120 was rerouted? My daughter head been waiting for an hour

    • K January 22, 2020 (9:01 pm)

      It seemed to me that the buses that usually run southbound on 3rd to West Seattle are being routed over onto 2nd, stopping at the usual cross streets. You might have success flagging down a bus, or asking a driver for help with a specific route, my bus driver (C-line) was trying to be very accommodating. 

• Jp January 22, 2020 (8:32 pm)

  What about driving in to downtown from the freeways? Are the roads good to do so living on 4th and Denny does anyone know?

• Brayton January 22, 2020 (8:40 pm)

  It will be a while before we hear what the investigation reveals, but as someone who has to use the 3rd &Pike / Pine stops twice daily I fully expect it to be related to some group of regular vagrants, drug dealers, gangs, and whatever other filth that constantly makes downtown an unsafe, unpleasant, embarrassing place. I feel terrible for the innocent people who were hurt today. I have zero sympathy for the culprits in today’s shootings. I want to hear what the leadership of Seattle has to say about this. 

  And yes, Metro did what they could to get us home. For that I am grateful.

  • Jp January 22, 2020 (9:07 pm)

    What about driving? I work in Kirkland and live around 4th and Denny so I’m trying to figure out if I can even drive home lol

  • Will January 22, 2020 (9:42 pm)

    I fully agree that downtown doesn’t have to be like this and it’s time for this aggressive and dangerous free for all down there to be stopped permanently. Enough. 

• Yma January 22, 2020 (10:57 pm)

  I heard this report & had to cry. Ive worked & walked past the same area – walking by for parking, or shopping, or to/from lunch.

  1. it could’ve been me, or anyone of us, that was shot.
  2. That corner has been bad for years – this is untenable. 

• Wsres January 23, 2020 (8:30 pm)

  This is on Durkan and the city council. I hope that boy’s family sues the city and wins. There need to be a clean out of the city. We do not go downtown anymore and we avoid 3rd if we have to go through downtown. 

Sorry, comment time is over.