UPDATE: Police, fire response for shooting victim in Alki

11:55 PM: Police and fire are going to 61st/Admiral for a report of a 28-year-old man with a gunshot wound. No word yet on circumstances. The victim is being assessed at a home. Updates to come.

12:08 AM: They’re still trying to figure out exactly where this happened, officers are telling dispatch.

12:13 AM: The victim is being taken to Harborview. Initial assessment over emergency radio described him as “conscious and alert” with a bullet wound near an eye.

12:19 AM: Police say they were told “the shooter was on a motorcycle.”

12:25 AM: They’re blocking off Admiral between 61st and 62nd, as well as 62nd itself, while they investigate. They’ve reported finding two “victim vehicles” on 62nd, possibly indicating bullet damage. (Added: Or, per commenters, other damage.)

12:55 AM: No further updates so far. More info should be forthcoming from SPD once a report is filed later this morning.

1:01 AM: Streets are reopening. Meantime, for context, it’s been a little over a month since four people were shot at the beach, on fatally; a suspect was arrested and charged, and remains in jail, bail set at $2 million.

ADDED 1:44 PM: We just talked to SPD spokesperson Det. Valerie Carsen. She says there’s not much more information about this: After being shot, the victim crashed his car into a parked car near 62nd/Admiral and went to a nearby house to get help. He couldn’t/wouldn’t tell officers where or when it happened – aside from, as mentioned above, that the shooter might have been someone on a motorcycle. Officers did not locate shell casings or other evidence anywhere in the area so they couldn’t independently verify a crime scene. SFD spokesperson Kristin Tinsley tells us the victim was “in stable condition” when transported.

51 Replies to "UPDATE: Police, fire response for shooting victim in Alki"

  • Cp August 7, 2021 (11:57 pm)

    Saw 2 SPD fly down Charlestown at a very high rate of speed. Not complaining.

  • Kat August 8, 2021 (12:06 am)

    How many times has there been gun activity down at Alki recently?? I was wondering what all those sirens were. I hope the victim is okay.

    • WSB August 8, 2021 (12:11 am)

      We don’t know anything about the circumstances yet. The victim was reported “conscious and alert.”

    • Rhonda August 8, 2021 (12:23 am)

      There’s a lot of violent confrontations between intoxicated young people on a regular basis on summer nights at Alki, especially on weekends. It’s nothing new and you almost never hear about it unless a weapon-related injury is involved.

    • Alki 2.0 August 8, 2021 (12:23 am)

      @Kat, too many! We’ve lived here for 14 years and the past 2-3 years feel like there’s been more violent crime than others. We chose to live in Alki for the same reasons people like to visit it, but the increase in car racing, violence and explosives feels like we’re in a neighborhood that is out of control. 

  • eggo August 8, 2021 (12:10 am)

    Do y’all have someone on the police scanner at all times? How do you know everything so fast? I checked as soon as I heard the sirens and this post was 5 minutes old already. 

    • WSB August 8, 2021 (1:43 am)

      Most of the time, as this is our business. (And if you see/hear something big and we DON’T have it, we appreciate texts, 206-293-6302)

      • wsgti August 8, 2021 (4:56 pm)

        You guys do an awesome job

  • LN August 8, 2021 (12:15 am)

    Sigh, another shooting in Alki. Hope the victim comes through okay. 

  • J August 8, 2021 (12:22 am)

    It’s really a shame how such a nice neighborhood has more and more gun violence every year. We need more police down at the beach, especially at night. This is getting ridiculous. 

    • POBRECITA.AVISPA August 8, 2021 (12:38 am)

      “It’s really a shame how a gentrified neighborhood is becoming less and less a bubble of privilege and more of an accurate representation of society and reality.”

      • What? August 8, 2021 (3:54 pm)

        Nobody should live in a neighborhood with violence gentrified or not. 

      • wsgti August 8, 2021 (4:57 pm)

        Do you hear yourself? Ridiculous.

      • wscommuter August 8, 2021 (8:29 pm)

        You view someone  getting shot as “an  accurate representation of society and reality”?  You think that a neighborhood  should expect this or else such neighborhood is a “bubble of privilege”?  I pity you.  


    • Amy August 8, 2021 (6:59 am)

      vs. not such a nice neighborhood having increasing gun violence? 

  • Neighbor August 8, 2021 (12:29 am)

    I hope the shooting victim will be okay.  Want to say “Thank you” to westseattleblog.  I heard sirens at 11:57 and checked your blog and saw you’d already reported.  I think the recent murder was late June.  This is so sad.  

    • WSB August 8, 2021 (12:59 am)

      I’m looking up the archive stories from earlier this year and will add links.

  • Pam August 8, 2021 (12:34 am)

    Heard very loud screeching tires at 11:45 pm on Admiral near 62nd. Then a very loud crash. Then emergency vehicles arrived about 10 minutes later.

  • justWantToSleep August 8, 2021 (12:48 am)

    Please please put a police station here. I don’t understand why there are so many shootings. And those vehicles racing the street with the intentionally loud exhaust. What is this for? Formula One?

    • J August 8, 2021 (2:38 am)

      I remember past years when they used to park a police RV at Alki, very visible. Do they do that anymore?

      • Cp August 8, 2021 (11:13 am)

        J – I remember those days. The big SPD mobile command unit was torched by Christopher Monfort in the 2000s. Not sure if it was replaced.

        • WSB August 8, 2021 (11:43 am)

          The mobile precinct is now a van (as of a few years ago, we covered its arrival). It is still in use, we’ve seen it at Alki, Westwood, other high-profile locations. Less often than it used to be because it was regularly driven by a Community Police Team officer and the CPT was disbanded when the chief redeployed officers from specialty units to cover general patrol.

    • John Smith August 8, 2021 (4:03 am)

      A byproduct of a high flow exhaust system is a loud muffler. Many/most loud mufflers are an inexpensive add-on with no further modification and add no functionality. It’s like the old Robin & Maynard Show’s Roy Otis’ cousin Merl’s car that has a hole cut in the hood for a blower but the engine has no blower.  

      • Carole August 8, 2021 (1:07 pm)

        This year in particular there seems to be an increase of the “loud muffler” cars, accompanied by window-rattling booming stereos.  Particularly in the evenings screaming/speeding up and down California between Admiral and the Junction.  We’ve always had them but seems like so many more this summer.

        • Loud Exhaust Sucks August 8, 2021 (5:40 pm)

          And the mistuned ignitions, so they backfire intentionally to try to scare people. Being immature seems to be popular. 

    • Derek August 8, 2021 (6:47 am)

      As a resident I prefer less cops. Cops antagonize marginalized groups. Look at Capitol Hill. A station changes nothing. Cops don’t prevent crimes. The crimes will just happen elsewhere. 

      • Mike August 8, 2021 (12:17 pm)

        “Look at Capitol Hill”I saw the events.  Here’s what I really noticed you won’t acknowledge.  White privileged kids from wealthy families dressed in black clothes, they torched buildings of business owners (many businesses owned by races other than white and quite a few first generation immigrants), one son of a wealthy white politician from the Eastside took a baseball bat to the head of a SPD officer, a grown adult white male yelled racist profanities at our then black female police chief, two white adult women prevented the Korean American the then assistant police chief from attending the Stop Asian Hate rally, numerous white privileged upper and middle class people continue to berate now interim police chief Diaz (guess what, he’s a person of color too).  So stop the virtue signaling, Derek.  Go look in the mirror and take. a long look at the real problem.

        • Rhonda August 8, 2021 (2:59 pm)

          You said everything I wanted to say. Thank you.

        • Derek August 8, 2021 (5:11 pm)

          Someone sounds mad. Project much? I didn’t say any of those things in my post. Cops have murdered two unarmed black people and one unarmed indigenous man in recent memory. Several SPD have shouted slurs out their car windows as well. I looked up the claim you made about the police chief and found it to be disproven. So there’s that. I’d say more on average. This is a real problem with the police force whether you suppress it or not. It’s been scientifically proven that cops antagonize marginalized groups at SPD and in general. The recent report on this states it. Go read it. And if you understood me correctly, you’d see that I meant that a station in Cap Hill didn’t bring crime down. It only invites more crime because cops invite it.

        • Anon_42 August 9, 2021 (12:13 pm)

          Bravo Mike. Bravo.

    • Anne August 8, 2021 (7:38 am)

      You need to forget that idea-the city is not going to build a precinct at Alki-we’re lucky to have one (for now anyway) in West Seattle at all. SPD may still have  a mobile precinct -but even if they do -it’s unlikely they’d park it at Alki 24/7-permanently. 

  • V August 8, 2021 (1:25 am)

    Was going to 711 at 11.55 and heard sirens headed to alki from all directions. Checked wsb and saw reports of shooting. When I drove down admiral I saw police vehicles present and what appeared to be several vehicles crashed outside of a home, inside the door way it appeared people/police were administering first aid to someone. 

    • just wondering August 8, 2021 (7:59 am)

      V really?  Why would you drive down to see what was happening?

      • Jill Loblaw August 9, 2021 (6:48 am)

        You misunderstood what V was saying. They were on their way to 7-11.

  • AlkiBean August 8, 2021 (9:18 am)

    Two blocks from us…I used to think being south of Admiral was a bit of a buffer but no longer.  It’s gotten that I don’t want to be on the roads in West Seattle, White Center or Burien after 9pm.  :-(  So was the crash caused by the victim being shot while driving?  Hoping to learn more about this.

  • Scubafrog August 8, 2021 (9:46 am)

    Sadly, police keep resigning.  The budget’s there for more personnel, but SPD’s leaving.  They don’t like the notion of accountability when they break the law – but no group should be above the law.  I hope the victim recovers, and I miss august BIPOC Captain Pierre Davis, a great leader of the SW Precinct.  We’re stuck with with a novice at this critical juncture.

    • Fourteen August 8, 2021 (4:22 pm)

      Part of me wants the cops to go away completely so we can all find out once and for all who is protecting who from whom.

  • Alki Jack August 8, 2021 (10:02 am)

    The super loud ridiculous exhaust, rubber burnouts, wheelies, Harley’s with no mufflers and super loud music, plus the constant backfiring noise, that stupid pop pop pop has became so annoying. You can’t even sit outside and enjoy the evenings any more. Lack of police enforcing illegal driving, speeding and noise under existing laws is stupid. De-funding gave them the “almighty” excuses they now constantly use. If you complain all you will here is, WE ARE UNDER-STAFFED, sorry! When is the last time you saw blue flashing lights and someone receiving a citation on Alki Avenue S.W. or Harbor Avenue……I’ll bet it’s been a long long time ago.

  • Seattleite August 8, 2021 (10:10 am)

    While it seems like incidents with guns are “getting out of control” at Alki, you can see from the statistics that it is still a very safe place to live and visit.  That being said, I do avoid it on Friday and Saturday evenings because of the crowds and obnoxious behavior.https://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/crime-dashboard

  • WSB August 8, 2021 (11:40 am)

    For those asking, police tell me they’ll release more info “later today.”

  • annilani August 8, 2021 (11:53 am)

    Another very sad and sobering alert to the ‘powers that be’  that we need Traffic-Calming Solutions and More Late-Night Police Patrols here in the Alki Neighborhoods.I feel very safe here on 61st between Alki Ave and Admiral most of the time!  The early beach closure has helped tremendously in that regard, Thank-you Parks Department.  The Alki Beach Park is a tremendous treasure that is being enjoyed daily by hundreds of residents, locals, and visitors this summer, 2021!  Let’s work to keep this up, make it safer and friendlier! Better pay, better funding, better training, to encourage recruitment for enlightened policing in 2021 and moving forward, I say.  Peace.

  • Why August 8, 2021 (12:55 pm)

    Around ten years ago there was a shooting in the same block of Admiral Way (officer-involved, as I recall).  The first night we moved into our Alki area house 30 years ago, some unknown person shot out our neighbor’s window.  Even earlier, old timers often talk about the cruising and mayhem on Alki Ave in the summers.  It’s a problem, yes.  But it’s not new.

  • WSB August 8, 2021 (1:53 pm)

    Police don’t have much more information but I’ve added above what additional detail was available. – TR

  • Pixie B August 8, 2021 (1:58 pm)

    For those asking about scanners,  I have Broadcastify.com on the computer. Use to listen to the scanner KOMO listed. Only on when someone monitors it. You don’t get everything but do hear police and fire. Scanner can be purchased and have many different channels.

Sorry, comment time is over.