UPDATE: Gunfire at Westwood Village, 1 wounded

| Crime | West Seattle news | Westwood

8:52 PM: The day’s second “scenes of violence” dispatch in West Seattle is headed out now, this time to Westwood Village. First police were looking for someone reported to have fired a gun near the closed 24 Hour Fitness; now there’s a report of a man in his 20s with a gunshot wound to the leg. More to come.

(WSB photos)

9:04 PM: At the scene, SFD tells us the wound, to the back of the man’s left thigh, is not life-threatening. He’s being taken to Harborview. We are trying to find out if a suspect is being sought.

9:25 PM: Police say they are still seeking a suspect. Also still piecing together the circumstances; one person is reported to have told police a fight between two men preceded the gunshots.

2:40 PM FRIDAY: We requested the police report this morning; haven’t received it yet, but did notice bullet holes in the ex-24 Hour Fitness window today, so we’ve added that photo above.

ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: SPD has posted the Significant Incident Report summary of the incident, with a few more details, so we’re adding it here:

On 12-17-2020 at 2040 hours, officers were on a call for service at Westwood Village Shopping Center, 2600 SW Barton St when they heard a volley of gunshots from nearby. This was later determined to be at the shuttered gym at this shopping center. The officers determined that a shooting had taken place and a person had fled from the scene on foot. That person (17 years old) returned to the scene and had a gunshot wound to one of his legs. Officers provided life safety first aid including a tourniquet. The victim was transported to the hospital where he was being treated. He was expected to survive. The initial investigation showed that a fight may have broken out between a work crew member that was removing the gym equipment and the person who had a gunshot wound. The victim and work crew were not hostile but were also not uncooperative with the investigation. Evidence was located inside the gym. Bullet holes were located in several exterior facing gym windows. The Gun Violence Reduction unit responded to the scene, took photographs and processed the scene for evidence. No other victims were located. No bystander witnesses. No firearms were located.

DD December 17, 2020 (9:19 pm)

They should be able to see a suspect with the police cameras at Westwood. Let’s defend the police some more, that might help. West Seattle is going down hill real fast.

WSB December 17, 2020 (9:23 pm)

Those are not police cameras; they belong to the center’s owner.
Rockhills December 18, 2020 (7:36 am)

That’s also literally right outside the mall security office :/

~Hockeywitch~ December 17, 2020 (9:24 pm)

Dang! 2nd one today.. People need to get a grip and chill out… A horn honk, and whatever happened with this one, does not warrant being shot or shot at… Makes me never want to leave my 4 walls..

DD December 17, 2020 (9:27 pm)

My previous post should have read “lets de-fund the police” not “defend”.

StopCuttingDownTrees December 17, 2020 (9:44 pm)

I was standing in front of that 24 Hour Fitness last night exactly 24 hours before this incident looking at the vacant space where the treadmills used to be. My concern was that they are removing equipment in preparation of permanently closing the gym. A potentially-deadly attack just outside their gym certainly doesn’t give 24 Hour Fitness much incentive to ever open it up again. I was, however, glad to see a Westwood Village security guard ask what I was doing there. I hope they increase SPD presence there after this.

WSB December 17, 2020 (9:53 pm)

I have had an inquiry out about the equipment moveout since a couple tips this morning. They announced more than half a dozen WA closures earlier this year but this one was not on that list.
- Jon December 18, 2020 (11:34 am)
  
  I just got a notification that the West Seattle 24 Hour Fitness is closing permanently. It said they couldn’t reach an agreement with the landlord.
  - WSB December 18, 2020 (11:58 am)
    
    Yup, while my inquiries to their media dept. have yet to be answered, somebody just sent us this, so we’ve posted separately.

Bdeli December 17, 2020 (9:56 pm)

Blocks from Westwo Villa (where the neon sign stands) on Tuesday night, a resident of the Rogene apt bldg flashed a gun at the operator of Super Deli Mart. Because he wasnt wearing a mask and got kicked out. As he walked backwards out of the parking lot, he raised his sweatshirt and showed his piece in his wasteband, pointed down at his brains. He finally wondered off. A police report was made later. If this dummy is identified as the same from Tuesday, I’ll add more.

DetailsPls December 18, 2020 (12:41 pm)

BDELI, care to explain a little more or give a description? I live in those apartments and heard the commotion but didn’t recognize the guy that appeared as the aggressor (I heard him yelling fa***t a bunch, and explain that he went to get a mask and went back in).
- Bdeli December 18, 2020 (5:13 pm)
  
  He was a young 20s male, some facial hair. The rule at the deli is to have a mask on before you enter. You can’t not have a mask on, even to buy a mask at the register to continue shopping. When he was told the rule, he said “F*ck you!” to the store manager. That got him kicked out. When he returned with the mask he had in his pocket all along, that wasn’t going to fly because of his language/attitude was already over the line. Dont tell a store owner w/ the right to refuse service to anyone to F*ck off, then get mad about it like a punk a-s little bitch.
  - Detailspls December 18, 2020 (7:41 pm)
    
    Thanks for the response Bdeli. For the record, I am on the side of the deli here (along with the mask policy) and was just trying to figure out which of my neighbors this was. I am not sure if he is a tenant or someone visiting but I did not recognize him.

HS December 18, 2020 (12:02 am)

Prior to this I could hear several cars, one after another, racing north to south, through the neighborhood. Sounds like the gang activity ended up at Westwood. Maybe this is why there is so much vehicle theft lately.

Bill December 18, 2020 (3:50 am)

Gang activity sounds like what? Speeding cars? What visions played out in your mind with the auditory-only input? Any chance it was KOMO influenced? I’m sure increases in vehicle theft wouldn’t have anything to do with the layers of financial and social impacts of a pandemic with additional layers of Republican constipation in 2020. But praise Westwood Village ownership and QFC’s boarded up windows. Did they got their PPP loans ok? They certainly lost my business – for more reasons than one. It’s remarkable how many people vote anti-Trump values, and fill the pockets of his financial supporters. ✌🏽

Calm December 18, 2020 (5:40 am)

I know this is a crazy time in all rhelms of the world both emotionally & physically but there is still love in the world (a lot of it actually) and there are still good, unselfish, integrity filled humans walking among us. It’s going to be a very scary next few months but if you truly love your family, your friends, your co-workers, your information providers such as this amazing platform you will dig deep & locate your bravery. Wear a mask everywhere you go or just don’t go anywhere and nurture yourself with lost hobbies you put aside because you had to work so hard to just survive. This is a beautiful time to focus on your progeny and teach them about their history as a human on this planet, study the flora/fauna around you and support other people in your life with a simple sweet phone call checking on them. This is time for real change in our society and not unlike the beginnings of this planet change is often painful & explosive but very necessary to evolve. We will be ok.

Sea December 18, 2020 (9:50 pm)

Beautiful message, thank you 🙏

M December 18, 2020 (5:59 am)

Enough of the gun violence. I expect to hear from and see more action by our elected officials. Seems like it’s getting so much worse so fast.

wscommuter December 18, 2020 (11:55 am)

What action are you expecting from elected officials? How, exactly, can electeds make people not carry guns around, using them willy-nilly? I’m genuinely curious as to how you’d solve this problem. Because I’d very much like to see gun-violence go down too.
- Mel December 18, 2020 (12:38 pm)
  
  Proactive policing is a start. When these people are taken into custody for other things (something as minor as a traffic violation can result in the police finding these people with warrants or illegal weapons) they’re off the streets. That also requires our prosecutors to actually do their jobs and to hold people, not release them right away. Police aren’t proactive anymore due to the scrutiny they receive from this city and our leaders. They have no support behind them.
  - Black Codes December 18, 2020 (2:07 pm)
    
    Prosecutors’ job is to detain people on a flimsy pretext so they can be investigated for something else? Why not just lock “these people” up without any investigation at all and save everyone some time?

Sillygoose December 18, 2020 (6:40 am)

@DD you are ridiculous we need more officers in WS. These men and women leave their families at all hours of the day and night putting themselves in harms way to protect us. You need a reality check your outlook is not welcome here.

eh December 19, 2020 (4:52 pm)

you statement implies that you think that you are not ridiculous. i also assume you think cops are heroes who put it all on the line fore the community. i guess everyone else who puts their safety at risk doesnt matter. you should look up the most dangerous jobs, cops dont even break the top 10.

ACG December 18, 2020 (6:49 am)

We were at Target when this happened. While checking out at the self checkout scanner, we heard the employee there say to a man “Sir, sir, would you like to pay for those?” He had his arms loaded up with items. He just walked right past the employee and out the doors. He headed through the parking lot towards the wall of buses and beyond. Then, we went outside and saw all of the police activity in the Bed Bath Beyond parking lot from the shooting. My daughter was so confused as to what was happening. I wasn’t expecting to have to explain multiple crime scenes to her after running a quick errand.

1994 December 18, 2020 (10:51 pm)

One time several years back while shopping at Target, my 10 year old child and I watched a guy put videos or music CD in his backpack. He saw us watching him, but that didn’t interfere with his thieving behaviors. That day, Target security was on top of things. When we got to the check out area we saw that Target security had stopped him and taken his backpack. Too bad they didn’t stop the guy you saw…..

Hannah G. December 18, 2020 (7:15 am)

This is one of the topics that was completely lost to all of the racial justice and calls this year to “defund” the police. Our national problem isn’t about racism alone. A big part of the problem is that THERE ARE TOO MANY GUNS in our country. The police are armed to the teeth because we are.

Bdeli December 18, 2020 (5:27 pm)

You are 100% right. And if Seattleites want it, we can be more aggressive against it. Look at Manhatten NYC…they have strict gun rules, and though their numbers are rising (~1400 shootings in 2020 vs ~750 in 2019) these are numbers far lower than Seattle when you consider population. If you fire a gun in NYC, it’s basically a felony. I’ve watched NYC a bit since Plaxico Burress SHOT HIMSELF in the leg in a club, and did a couple years in jail for it years ago. It IS a deterrent. I get not doing years for stealing diapers, but I am all for doing years for gun accidents or worse. I’m sick of how shooting a gun but missing your target is somehow barely charged as a crime. You’ve got to hit your target to do a night in jail. You’ve basically got to kill your target to do a year. Its effed up for real.

DeSean December 18, 2020 (2:26 pm)

Here’s the reality that no one likes. (Including Me)More cops + Stop and Frisk= Less of this BS.No one wants the cops shooting people but at least the cops have training.This upswing in shootings and rolling gun battles endangers a lot of innocent civilians.It feels more lawless now at times than it did in the early 90’s when gang warfare was peaking in Seattle.

CJ December 18, 2020 (8:07 pm)

Perhaps you could try appealing to emotions? Here’s a trick using the Motte & Bailey fallacy. Just rename “stop and frisk” to “aid and interact”. The police should first offer aid to all historically marginalized community members while on their beat, and then they should physically interact with anyone who needs extra attention. Our officers should be forced to do more for us as a matter of law, especially when so much policing happens at the end of a gun barrel. If you don’t agree that officers should be mandated to aid and positively interact with MORE BIPoC… You probably want to see people harmed instead of helped by police.

wseaturtle December 18, 2020 (4:41 pm)

I know I’m going out on a limb here, but…..bad people should not own guns.

TM7302 December 19, 2020 (12:35 am)

What does SPD have to do with this? This isn’t a police involved shooting, they’re just reacting to incident. Why is race being mentioned here? Was it a racially motivated shooting? I don’t think the race of anyone involved was mentioned? Maybe it was two white dudes? Two black dudes? A white and a black dude? Maybe it was two BIPoC dudes? Is there other information that some of you have that WSB hasn’t reported on, yet? All that being said, I can pretty much guarantee there was at least one idiot criminal involved…

WSB December 19, 2020 (2:10 am)

There is a bit more info now – the SPD Significant Incident Report summary. Not the full narrative, which we’ll renew our request for on Monday, but a few more details, added above. – TR

SKE December 19, 2020 (3:44 pm)

I was last minute Christmas shopping at BIG 5 when I heard what sounded like 5 or 6 pop, pop, pop sounds, I said out loud was that gunshots? Nah don’t think it was! Then 2 seconds later here comes 2 employees and the manager and he said that we were lockdown due to an “Active Shooter” in the area. They said that the person had shot someone and shot out the windows of the 24 hour fitness. Which is right next door to BIG5. We were locked in the store for close to an hour, then made my purchases and went to my car, with a dozen or so officers all around me. Being an Apt. manager in White Center area, I have seen every ugly thing you can imagine and then some, so wasn’t scared. the police response time and amount of officers who responded was awesome and made me feel very safe. Just saying.

Sorry, comment time is over.