WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Gunfire investigation near California/Andover (updated Friday)

4:48 PM: We’re just catching up on this incident that happened during the past hour while the West Marginal carjacking (etc.) investigation was still unfolding: Police have confirmed gunfire between people in two cars near California/Andover. We caught up with officers just as they prepared to leave the scene a short time ago, and they told us they had recovered shell casings. No reports of any injuries in this incident either.

ADDED 10:52 PM: Thanks to the commenters who’ve added more detail; we won’t be able to ask for report details until tomorrow. Nearby resident David sent this short security-camera video in which you can hear the shots:

FRIDAY UPDATE: Here’s what the SPD summary says about the circumstances:

Officers contacted witnesses and viewed video footage from a local business where this incident took place. The investigation revealed that three vehicles were parked at this location when a truck arrived for fuel. When the truck was leaving, one of the three vehicles backed into the truck, leading the driver of the truck to confront the other motorist. Police learned the three original vehicles moved to the alley behind the store and were followed by the driver in the truck. The driver of the truck told a witness one of the other drivers had shot at him. He then left the area without waiting for police.

38 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Gunfire investigation near California/Andover (updated Friday)"

  • Eric May 12, 2022 (4:54 pm)

    Okā€¦ so Iā€™m walking down 45th in front of the Church of Latter Day Saint near Andover, and I hear ā€œBop! Bop!ā€¦ā€ 4-5 shots fired over the houses to the East. I then hear a car take off going south in the alley. I hid in the damn bushes and called 911! What on earth is going on! My mother was just carjacked a couple of weeks ago at Island View. Then this!?! 

    • Ly May 13, 2022 (12:36 am)

      That’s so scary šŸ˜„I read about your mom. So sorry that happened to her. Feels like West Seattle has been having more shootings lately.

  • Plf May 12, 2022 (5:11 pm)

    Live on 44th and Andover heard the popsscary living here in west Seattle was never like this, seriously thinking about moving

    • Km May 12, 2022 (8:00 pm)

      Crime is up everywhere post-pandemic (and still down historically.) 

      • Morgan May 12, 2022 (8:12 pm)

        Whatā€™s your baseline year for ā€˜historically?ā€™

        • Byron James May 13, 2022 (3:34 pm)

          Morgan, KM will pick some random, irrelevant date for “historically” and it’s irrelevant if there was some point in the past with a higher crime rate. It’s also totally nonsensical to say that crime is up everywhere, as if crime is somehow magically spread out evenly across the country.

  • drahcir May 12, 2022 (5:13 pm)

    Abortion control but no gun control. That is the reality of this crazy world we are living in.

  • aRF May 12, 2022 (5:26 pm)

    So I think I saw much of what transpired before the shots. There was an old crown vic type police car, black and white with the push bars still on the front, parked in the northern most space, which may have backed into a black truck that was refueling at the north pump. The truck driver was angry and arguing with a defiant crown vic driver. Crown vic guy drove off. The truck then blocked crown vicā€™s buddy who was driving a third car. Crown vic guy came back, there was some vehicular jostling, then they all took off west on Andover and there was the quick succession of shots at 3:48. All this while Madison Middle Schoolers were streaming through the area.

    • choust1 May 12, 2022 (6:03 pm)

      What was the description of the third car involved?

      • aRF May 12, 2022 (6:40 pm)

        Iā€™m not completely sure of which car was blocked. Crown Vic guy was chatting with the driver of a white sedan, which also looked like it came from a police auction, parked in the third spot from right. Between the two was a small light colored civic-like 4 door with no plates. This car pulled out at the same time. 

      • aRF May 13, 2022 (4:58 pm)

  • Vee May 12, 2022 (5:50 pm)

    Too many idiots with guns who think they have this right. Cant get any decent gun control and need more police,  last city council and mayor really messed things up

  • Plf May 12, 2022 (5:52 pm)

    Have u contacted police with your information 

    • aRF May 12, 2022 (6:46 pm)

      Yes, I called as it was happening. It looked like a bunch of people called. Itā€™s a crowded area at that time what with schools getting out. 

  • Morgan May 12, 2022 (5:59 pm)

    Good grief. When is county prosecutor election?keep up the good reporting WSB! You are appreciated.

  • WSeaNeighbor May 12, 2022 (6:10 pm)

     This is so horrible! Thank goodness no one was injured. Eric, so sorry about your mom.  For anyone reading this, Eric’s mom could use some help after her carjacking last week.  If you can help, go here, https://gofund.me/98f01199

    • wssz May 13, 2022 (6:51 am)

      Thanks for the reminder about the Go Fund Me request! 

  • Rhonda May 12, 2022 (6:27 pm)

    That same Crown Victoria former police cruiser passed me at, easily, 80 mph on west-bound Roxbury Tuesday night at 1am. It pulled into the 76 station, still at high speed, then headed eastbound and accelerated to what looked like 60 to 70 mph. He almost hit vehicles turning into and out of Safeway.

  • NEL May 12, 2022 (6:29 pm)

    I wonder if the black truck was the same one that was carjacked earlier from the West Marginal carjacking today?

  • Brenda May 12, 2022 (7:11 pm)

    Thank you posting the Go Fund Me for Eric’s mom. I donated and hope the campaign gets more visibility to help get out. 

  • Concerning May 12, 2022 (7:21 pm)

    It took the police over 22 minutes to respond to a call of an active shooter. I know there was another shooting/carjacking nearby but that should not allow such a slow response to such a serious offense that was reported to dispatch as a shooting within seconds of the first shot being fired. If the police are understaffed, that needs to change. That response time for this type of incident is unacceptable by my standards and I hope SPD feels the same.The behavior of the shooter is (obviously) not be acceptable and there should be maximum repercussions for anyone recklessly firing their gun in our city – not to mention the reckless driving. Without the threat of punishment this type of behavior will only get worse. All of us have so much more in common than not; the political divisiveness in our city/state/country is moving the focus away from our commonalities and instead to our hate/fears. I hope the shooter, the shooters friend, and the apparent shooting target are all tracked down and questioned by the police and the prosecutor holds those responsible accountable to the fullest extent of our laws.  Tracy, did you receive an incident report number? I intend to track this incident to see how the offenders are held accountable (if at all).

    • WSB May 12, 2022 (7:55 pm)

      Somebody was broken out as soon as dispatch mentioned it – I don’t know if there was a delay on that; what time did you call? – and they were already using people from the floating citywide response unit. Almost every single day, if you listen to the police radio, you hear an invitation to “augment” – OT shifts to fill a watch up to “minimum” level. The other day, the request was for five to “augment.” We’ve reported on SW Precinct shift supervisors saying sometimes they find themselves running with as few as three officers – and that’s for all of West Seattle and South Park. Re: incident #, as I’ve mentioned before, Tweets by Beat now shows incident numbers for each related call, so this one has two, the 46th/Andover caller and the California/Andover caller, 22-119334 and 22-119335. Don’t know which one will be primary. – TR

      • M May 12, 2022 (9:35 pm)

        I drove by at 4:10 pm and I had no idea there was a shooting. I didn’t see any police cars around.  Scary that I could have been driving by 15 minutes earlier, but my dog wasn’t ready to be picked up at the vet at that time.

    • T May 12, 2022 (10:07 pm)

      Could not agree me. Iā€™m all for gun rights for all abiding citizens. Know a lot of people donā€™t agree and thatā€™s ok, I donā€™t know the answer of what is the answer to keeping/getting the guns away from criminals. I do know what it is to lose someone, an innocent beautiful lifelong friend to gun violence at Ballard high school. Some of us from west Seattle knew her from cooper/Madison.After going through that it makes it so much harder to hear of these repeat offenders getting plea deals that drop the gun charges. Why are any offenses with a gun allowed to be pled? Maybe for a dumb teen who grew up with it and makes a one time deal with school/counseling  and a job required and if a second offense happens than reinstate the original charges. Can we please please have a conversation about not allowing it anymore. Anybody remember the history of the downtown shooters or the fact that shouldnā€™t have even been free when it happened 

      • Canton May 13, 2022 (12:36 am)

        What we need to do is make the laws for criminals that use guns more harsh. Minimum 10 years, for gun use if already convicted and illegal to possess a firearm. Those possible 10 years would make people think twice, or at least a little.

        • Hope May 13, 2022 (7:33 am)

          Unfortunately don’t think people firing guns are in the mindset to think or care about law and consequences, that’s not the part of their brain they are using in these moments.

      • Mel May 13, 2022 (3:21 pm)

        I agree. Maybe we should actually put harsher penalties in place for those who commit crimes with a gun.

  • FivePoints May 12, 2022 (8:03 pm)

    I hope Dan and Loan are OK. 

    • choust1 May 12, 2022 (8:38 pm)

      My first thought as well.    Great business owners AND neighbors.  They work their butts off.    Good people.  

    • WS neighbor May 13, 2022 (3:49 pm)

      They are. Dan was out there quickly, checking on things. I visited with Loan for a bit. Worried but ok. 

  • Morgan May 12, 2022 (8:15 pm)

    3 officers to protect an area of 200k peopleā€¦? Does that strike any of our elected officials as a tad low?

  • David May 12, 2022 (8:41 pm)

    I live 500 feet away from the incident. I heard sirens within 3 minutes of the shots being fired.

  • Hope May 12, 2022 (9:37 pm)

    This isn’t related, or local even, but did any of you see this story out of Florida?  Good to see, strangers working together, rushing to someones aid. Gives me hope, perhaps will do the same for you, so wanted to share.
    https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article261370127.html

    • Pessoa May 13, 2022 (6:32 am)

      Florida has wonderful people.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, it was common for neighbors to put up signs stating that they could house anyone who needed shelter. 

      • Jackie May 23, 2022 (7:03 am)

        Yes, Florida has lots of wonderful people but also a large share of homophobic, Handmaid’s Tale, racist,  and misogynistic folks. 

  • Rob May 13, 2022 (12:19 am)

    This is too much, I don’t want to live in a place this scary.  Have been in west seattle for 30 years and loved it, but this is a scary turn too far.  “Wouldn’t leave if we could”?   How about “will leave if we can make it out alive”.

    • Rocket May 13, 2022 (9:10 am)

      Sleep more, worry less.

  • JRH May 14, 2022 (7:24 am)

    OMG, I live in delridge area, I heard the shots and still went to SODO on the day of the carjacking around 4:30 no traffic problems. On my way our about 2 blocks away I saw about 8 police officers covering an alley that really is an escape route through greenspace on 21st by louisa boren. You can walk through from West Marginal.  Now I see they came out of another greenspace area by puget ridge and found the car.  This was thursday.  Luckily the road was clear for me but police without bonuses were guarding the escape route from Highland park way to 21st by sanislo elementary by 4:00 p.m.  Now I see the sound I heard in the afternoon was gunshots and now I read that the crime is behind a senior building.  I am a senior now and also work for seattle housing.  Time to take back our neighborhood.  Organize crime watches.   Support our police and make Lisa Herhold live up to her original commitment to support our police officers.  When I voted for her that was what she was saying now she wants to take the extra money and put it somewhere else.  What?????

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