WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Another gunfire-damaged car; stolen backpack to watch for

| Crime | Gatewood | West Seattle news

Two reports so far today:

ANOTHER CAR DAMAGED BY GUNFIRE: If you heard gunshots early Saturday in the Gatewood/Morgan Junction area – here’s what the police report we obtained today says it turned out to be:

(Saturday morning) I was dispatched to (the 7000 block of) California AV SW, unit to investigate the report of property damage in the form of bullet holes in (victim’s) vehicle that occurred overnight.

I contacted (the victim) in the alley behind his building (east of California AV SW) where his vehicle was parked, backed in to a parking spot perpendicular to the alley. It was immediately obvious that the front and hood of his vehicle was riddled with fresh bullet holes. (He) stated that he approaches his vehicle from behind so he noticed a large wet spot running away from his vehicle but did not notice anything was wrong until he attempted to start his vehicle and “a bunch of warning lights went off” and it would not start.

(We) located 8- spent 9mm Blazer brass shell casings scattered around the alleyway in front of (the) vehicle. We also located 8 separate bullet holes in the front bumper, grill, and hood of (the) vehicle. There were vehicles parked directly on both sides of the’s vehicle as well as in many other spots of the parking strip. None of the other had any damage to them. (The victim) stated that he had just bought the vehicle approximately a month ago and just moved into this apartment building approximately a week and a half prior and did not know of anyone in his personal or professional life that would do something like this. I agreed with that the incident did seem to be targeted toward him or at least his vehicle specifically. A check with SPD dispatch showed a shots fired call with multiple callers from the east of this address at approximately 0048 Hrs this morning (2020-222259). Officers responded and did not locate anything.

No indication whether it might be related to last week’s incidents; police said the weapon in those appeared to have been a shotgun.

STOLEN BACKPACK: Tina hopes you can help find her child’s backpack, stolen Sunday at Lowman Beach Park and containing some items of hers as well: “The backpack is black with Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. We were at the beach just past all of the houses at the very end of the road.” If yu see an abandoned backpack like that, let us know and we’ll connect you.

P.S. Thanks to the person who found Linda‘s stolen documents and got them back to her after seeing the report here!

Yma July 27, 2020 (11:59 am)

Thank you, officer

Rob July 27, 2020 (12:47 pm)

I suggest you get the vehicle history and see if it was a repossession. Chances are the ex owner did it. It happens. It’s at least a place to start.

Lola July 27, 2020 (1:14 pm)

Was he parked in the correct parking spot for his building? Some people can get agitated when someone new moves in and starts to park in their spot? Just a thought. I feel for all of these cars that are getting shot up. People need to get a life and not keep damaging other peoples stuff. Thank you for posting about it.

Js July 27, 2020 (2:39 pm)

Guessing mistaken identity. You would know if someone hated you that much. I hate to think it was someone upset if parked in wrong spot. Usually you get a nastygram on your window. This gun person is crazy and you need to stay in touch the polelice.Make it your bidness to let neighbors know.

Rick July 27, 2020 (2:46 pm)

I heard this all the way at the north end of Lincoln Park. I think we should consider that it might be related to the other shot up cars. This is a really disturbing trend and has the potential to escalate. Reserving judgment until we know more, but this is a bit creepy.

David July 27, 2020 (10:05 pm)

No police and no enforcement of the law. What do you expect to happen? I hate to break it to everyone but there are bad people in the world with bad intentions…. keep giving criminals a free pass as if they are the victim and you’ll be shocked at the speed in which the crime rate increases.

CatLady July 28, 2020 (1:14 am)

Except that the police haven’t been defunded yet. What are you even talking about? Multiple people called police to report shots fired, officers came out & found nothing, then this poor guy comes out the next morning & discovers his car has been shot up, so he calls the police & they send an officer out to take a statement. I have no idea where you’re getting “no enforcement of the law” – what else was supposed to happen?
- Will S. July 28, 2020 (8:10 am)
  
  Excellent points, Catlady. And let’s be real: “Officers responded and did not locate anything” could mean anything on the spectrum between 1) officers raced to the scene and conducted a fruitless search in darkness, or 2) officers grumbled about people who call 911 about midnight fireworks, eventually showed up on California Avenue (not the alley behind it), didn’t get out of the car, didn’t see anyone around, didn’t contact any of the 911 callers, and then drove away. I live very close to the location of this shooting, and I can tell you that version 1 didn’t happen.

Sorry, comment time is over.