(Sunday’s arrest scene – WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
Three days after a man was shot while driving in an Alki alley, the suspect arrested shortly afterward is charged. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 35-year-old Garrett R. Heinemann with first-degree assault and first-degree burglary. The charging documents confirm that the victim is a neighbor of the suspect, in the same block of 60th SW where the shooting happened; the victim moved to Alki, from California, just two weeks ago. He told police he had never seen Heinemann before the shooting, which happened shortly after he left his apartment to drive somewhere to get coffee. He told police the suspect stepped out in front of his car in the alley, stopped him, and then told him to put his hands up, so the victim thought it was a robbery – but without saying anything else, he said, the suspect opened fire. Police say five bullets were fired into the victim’s front windshield, and six into the rear passenger-side window; 10 casings were found around his car.
(SPD photo, Sunday)
Minutes after the shooting, the charging documents say, Heinemann walked into a nearby apartment and attacked one of the two people who were inside; they managed to escape, and he fled out a window. The documents don’t have any information about a possible motive, noting that Heinemann refused to talk with detectives. As we previously reported, and as is noted in the charging documents, he has no criminal history. The charging documents say the gun Heinemann is accused of using, a .40-caliber pistol found at Alki Beach Park, is one that he has owned for eight years, and that he has a concealed-weapons permit. He remains in King County Jail, bail set at half a million dollars. Harborview Medical Center told us Tuesday that the victim had improved to satisfactory condition, though the charging documents note he faces additional surgery.
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