UPDATE: Police response after gunfire in White Center

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police | White Center

6:30 PM: Thanks for the tips. Lots of SPD just south of Holy Family and Guardian One overhead. It’s a very active scene. SPD says one person was hurt in a shooting. They are questioning people at a house near 18th/98th and trying to get someone to come out. More…

6:52 PM: The possible suspect has come out. G-1 is gone. The sergeant at the scene tells us it turned out no one was hurt.

7:31 PM: SPD update via Twitter: “Officers investigating probable shooting at residence. No victims located at this time. One person contacted, but refused assistance. Officers collected evidence, this remains an active investigation.”

Cornelius t. Sourdough July 2, 2020 (6:34 pm)

Very disappointing to hear the distinct succession of gunfire from my backyard garden. I hope that all remain safe and peaceful throughout this historically volatile holiday.

Gill July 2, 2020 (6:38 pm)

Helicopter left about 3′ ago. Happening near a well known “problem” house.

WSB July 2, 2020 (6:42 pm)

No, we are here and G-1 is still overhead.
- Rebecca Yedlin July 2, 2020 (6:46 pm)
  
  I can still hear it circling. Is this the house that appears to be occupied by squatters with overflowing garbage?
  - WSB July 2, 2020 (6:58 pm)
    
    We couldn’t get close enough to see garbage due to the police line.
  - Becky Handshew July 2, 2020 (11:41 pm)
    
    Pretty sure it’s that one Rebecca. Certainly looks like it from the photos.
- Colin Madison July 2, 2020 (6:47 pm)
  
  Is anyone video recording the police?
  - WW Resident July 2, 2020 (7:37 pm)
    
    @ColinAre you serious? What a dumb hyperbolic statement
  - waikikigirl July 2, 2020 (7:41 pm)
    
    Why do the police need to be video recorded?
  - Question Authority July 2, 2020 (7:45 pm)
    
    Why? You go ahead and step up and respond to a shooting if you care so much.
    - waikikigirl July 3, 2020 (11:17 am)
      
      My apologies I guess Colin meant it in a GOOD WAY and not to degrade the police. like they have been getting lately
  - Roland July 2, 2020 (9:17 pm)
    
    I hope someone filmed or made their presence known, Colin. It is important to police the police. A dumb statement would be to call Colin’s reasonable question “hyperbolic”.
    - WW Resident July 3, 2020 (3:07 am)
      
      @Roland..SPD had approximately 800,000 for service calls /contacts, 17,000 of those calls being a person in crisis, which were overwhelmingly positive. Yet the hyperbolic fever wants to paint the police as mowing down people in record numbers and are just out of control. It must be nice to armchair quarterback from the safety of your home? Meanwhile here are 2 Twitter feeds from the “CHOP Security” shooting the other day showing SPD what community policing looks like. You can hear one “security” guy laughing that he ran out of bullets. You can hear another ask one of the persons shot that they’re still alive? And then ask if he wants to get pistol whipped. And there is absolutely no outrage.
      https://twitter.com/i/status/1277558841098502144 and this one https://twitter.com/i/status/
  - K. Davis July 2, 2020 (9:26 pm)
    
    What a knee-jerk, moronic question.
    - waikikigirl July 3, 2020 (11:19 am)
      
      And to same as you say in your reply.
- YANNI Dave July 2, 2020 (7:45 pm)
  
  I heard the Police say “three RV’s” when describing the property in question, which definitely means it was that wack-a-doo house with the largest outdoor VHS tape collection in the Western Hemisphere

KT July 2, 2020 (6:45 pm)

Is that the house with the yard that is a recycling depot?

KT July 2, 2020 (6:50 pm)

On the plus side, the helicopter has cut down on the M80s going off.Is that the house with the recycling depot in the yard?

Graciano July 2, 2020 (7:01 pm)

98th & 18th is in unincorporated King County…Come on Colin, enough!

WSB July 2, 2020 (7:09 pm)

We are not entirely sure why it Was SPD but the area around Holy Family is where the city limits jut south and we have covered SPD responses in the vicinity before.
- Amiee July 2, 2020 (10:09 pm)
  
  The area of property of Holy Family Church IS in the city of Seattle. They are the only property south of Roxbury that falls within the limits of the city of Seattle. As far as I know.
  - WSB July 2, 2020 (10:16 pm)
    
    Except for what you might call northeast Arbor Heights, south of Roxbury and west of 30th.
    You can zoom in on this map:
    https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?useExisting=1&layers=648c2d358afb48b3b95130a5a95405be
    - C. Angle July 4, 2020 (8:19 am)
      
      Yes, there is a doughnut hole south of Roxbury that encircles St. Mary’s church.Mr. Burke (of the Burke Museum and Burke-Gilman Trail fame) got Seattle to include St. Mary’s as city land so that they could install city sewers for that church property. Why there’s a square of city property south of Roxbury.Foresight!

M.B. July 2, 2020 (7:04 pm)

Was this technically White Center or West Seattle? I was surprised to find the news here instead of the White Center Blog. It seems like a lot has been missing on WCB.

WSB July 2, 2020 (7:17 pm)

The initial tip call we got was SPD by Holy Family, and as noted in previous response that area is a pocket within city limits. So, I published here, will cross ref on our WC site (White Center Now) when we get back to HQ.
BL July 2, 2020 (7:46 pm)

SPD’s Twitter feed said the shooting was on 20th and Roxbury – which is the West Seattle side of Roxbury – so it makes sense the West Seattle Blog would cover it. Likely around the time it happened (my house is on 21st & Roxbury) I saw a shirtless man walk up from my backyard outside my kitchen window while I was doing dishes, he saw my gate was locked and jumped it and kept walking. He wasn’t running or anything, who knows if it was related, but it was kinda creepy as all gate access to my yard is locked.
- Question Mark July 3, 2020 (6:34 am)
  
  20th Avenue S is on both sides of Roxbury. But the dividing line between Seattle and unincorporated White Center there is at S 98th Street.

Helpermoneky July 2, 2020 (8:15 pm)

It’s always an adventure driving past this house

tim_mai2 July 2, 2020 (9:05 pm)

I hate that house. The people who frequent it walk through on our apartment walkway every day and every night. It’s constant.They walk right past my livingroom window. They go this way to avoid being seen. It’s adjacent to our back parking area and leads to a small alley way right to the house. Everyone knows they’re buying drugs. They leave garbage all over in our back parking lot. They’ve used our dumpster and recycle bin numerous times. For a while they were leaving their big black garbage bags in front of our dumpster. Why can’t the owner make them clean the property up? It’s disgusting .

Bradley July 2, 2020 (9:48 pm)

That house is absolutely the best advertisement for good fences.

Juju July 2, 2020 (11:08 pm)

Who is videotaping the folks doing the videotaping?

And who is videotaping them?

Okboomer July 2, 2020 (11:23 pm)

…and who uses videotape in 2020?
- kt July 3, 2020 (12:04 pm)
  
  Thank you!
Roland July 2, 2020 (11:35 pm)

Hm… well with enough cameras… eventually we’ll make a loop of accountability through grassroots journalism and documentation and then cops and others in power will always know that any ill act will be seen and reported on. Person X film cops who films Person X on their body cameras. So Person X keeps their distance and the cops don’t murder anyone. It isn’t about, I guess, *this* exact incident- more about us buidling a culture that has one eye on cops: holding a light and camera to power.
- Bradley July 3, 2020 (1:34 am)
  
  Police are at a FAR higher risk of being murdered than the general public. Police also arrest and put murderers behind bars.
- Emy July 3, 2020 (7:08 am)
  
  Big Brother Is Watching
- nonni July 3, 2020 (9:55 am)
  
  Because cops never get shot or murdered or risk their own lives to help anybody.
Turtles July 3, 2020 (9:14 am)

@JUJU with “Who is videotaping the folks doing the videotaping?”And who is videotaping them?Relax, it’s i-phones ‘all the way down’…

Question Mark July 3, 2020 (6:39 am)

Re: “Eventually we’ll make a loop of accountability through grassroots journalism and documentation and then cops and others in power will always know that any ill act will be seen and reported on.”

Sadly, this has been demonstrably false in far too many cases. And apparently under current police culture it will continue indefinitely if there are no changes.

tim_mai2 July 3, 2020 (11:29 am)

That house is a terrible eyesore. Constant traffic in and out. The “clientele” walk through our apartment walkway day and night. A shooting doesn’t surprise me in the least. At least no one was injured. Alot of them use our back parking lot for drugs. They leave garbage everywhere. I found one of the men that goes there urinating in the covered entrance to our building. Wish the owner of that house would clean it up. for drugs

WSNative July 3, 2020 (6:05 pm)

We hate what the corner house has been doing to the alley, especially the activity behind the apartments. The sale of property has been pending for months, my understanding is based on eviction. They can’t get out fast enough.

Julie July 5, 2020 (3:16 pm)

The people living in that house are up day and night. They collect junk and pile it in the yard. Every few days they move the piles around the yard, most important thing to know is that there is a second house that is an issue to the neighbors right down the street (smaller house) some of the people go between the two homes. I have seen rats running around on both properties. It is extremely hard to evict people theses days due to all the rights squatters and renters have. If the neighbors continue to turn a blind eye to neighborhood issues then these problems will continue in this area. Many neighborhoods don’t file or call to complain with issues.
Both homes have piles of used clothing, shopping cart, bags of trash, and other items the people have collected on the property

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