FOLLOWUP: Two days after Alki shooting death, early-closure plan announced, and other updates

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

(WSB photo from Saturday)

Two days after Saturday evening’s deadly shooting near Alki’s Whale Tail Park, a few updates:

-No arrests yet, according to Seattle Police. (They say the arrest of a teenager with a gun during the investigation was not related; that 15-year-old was booked into the Youth Services Center for unlawful gun possession.)
-No other information to release beyond what they said Saturday.
-The victim’s identity has not yet been released by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
-As we noted earlier today, Parks is planning to close Alki Beach Park (and Golden Gardens) early again this summer. Here’s the announcement sent out since our inquiry:

Seattle Parks and Recreation will enact a second-phase pilot shortening the hours at Golden Gardens and Alki Beach during the 2023 summer months from 4 A.M.-10:30 P.M. from May 26-September 4. And a return to 4 A.M. – 11:30 P.M after September 5th.

The shortened hours will assist in addressing dangerous and/or illegal behavior typical of summer evening uses at these two parks in response to public input and nearby community complaints. This program is a pilot and will be reviewed at a Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners meeting after the Summer to help determine the best operating hours for the public. This review will be informed by public comments from the questionnaire below, public comment given at the Board meeting, and data collected throughout the pilot period.

During the Summer 2023 Season, Seattle Parks and Recreation staff, assisted by Seattle Police Department staff, will begin closing down these two beach locations starting at 10:00 P.M.

Public input can be provided here.

Additionally, designated fire pits will be available for beach fires this summer beginning Saturday (of Memorial Day weekend).

(The announcement seems to have some date discrepancies so we’re checking back with Parks on those.) This will be the third summer of early closings; they followed the same Memorial Day to Labor Daywindow last year; in 2021, Parks made the change after two major incidents in June of that year, the shooting that killed Tilorae Shepherd and the chaotic social-media-organized gathering that drew thousands.

5:10 PM: Parks’ announcement has the correct dates now.

Lucy May 15, 2023 (5:42 pm)

This is great news. Hopefully, SPD will still send a car around every hour or so after closing time to keep an eye on things.

The Earl May 15, 2023 (5:54 pm)

They say the arrest of a teenager with a gun during the investigation was not related; that 15-year-old was booked into the Youth Services Center for unlawful gun possession.)15 year olds with guns..good deal..

Mr. C View May 15, 2023 (6:29 pm)

Has the city tried to experiment with car free weekends on Alki Ave to reduce incidents like this? Could be rough going for some retailers but maybe offset by more local WS family use.

I Love Alki May 15, 2023 (7:23 pm)

Car free weekends is a fantastic idea. Good for the environment, too.
Alki resident May 15, 2023 (7:50 pm)

Why do us drivers need to find other options so you can have your car free weekend in our own neighborhood? If you don’t want to drive there then don’t but don’t penalize the rest of us.
WSB May 16, 2023 (7:58 am)

Alki had car-free days each year for a while – 2008 through 2014, then a one-time revival in 2016, and nothing since. Alki Beach Pride is working on a street festival with a closure this summer, though – TR
Steve Alki May 16, 2023 (1:58 pm)

Love this Idea too
Frog May 16, 2023 (2:41 pm)

This seems like a non-sequiter. Alki Ave provides only a small fraction of the total parking in the neighborhood, and closing it on weekends would not stop people from coming. It would just push the parking to other parts of the neighborhood, and push the traffic to Admiral Way (already gridlocked on busy weekends) and Beach Drive. Making Alki Ave car-free might even make the beach more attractive and draw in more people. Meanwhile, Alki Ave traffic has no obvious connection to a shooting in Whale Tail park. Closing Alki Ave seems like a way to make life more pleasant for people who live on Alki Ave, at the expense of the rest of the neighborhood.

WS Bee May 15, 2023 (6:51 pm)

I’m all in favor of this, but the way this reads makes it sounds like this is meant to help curb the shooting incident, but it happened at 6pm soooo what else is going to be done to help?

flimflam May 15, 2023 (7:32 pm)

As much as some would argue, a regular, consistent, visible police presence makes a big difference but Seattle has a loooooong way to go to make that a reality
- Westie May 15, 2023 (8:03 pm)
  
  Yeah all this does is punish everyone else who wants to hang out at the beach in the late summer evenings.
- WS Bee May 15, 2023 (8:48 pm)
  
  Well I’m here to argue favorably for regular police presence (and also for good police officers).
- K May 15, 2023 (8:51 pm)
  
  The West Seattle Home Depot has a regular, consistent, visible police presence and their theft rate is still through the roof. Statistically, economic factors have a MUCH stronger correlation to crime than police do. Investments in education and economic opportunities will give you way more return for your tax dollar.
  - D May 16, 2023 (8:53 am)
    
    the reason theft rate is high is no one can do anything about them walking out with things. I was at Lowes on Rainier one time and the security guard kept asking this homeless guy for the receipt of a cordless tool set he was carrying and he slowly walked out of the store and the thieve just kept walking mumbling something and the security guard just had to walk next to him until he was off property. I asked why he didnt just take it back from him or why he didnt stop him and he said all he is allowed to do is follow him off property so thieve doesnt hurt other customers
  - neighbor May 16, 2023 (9:26 am)
    
    Although their building is nearby, I can’t recall ever once seeing a uniformed officer inside Home Depot.
  - Pdavis May 16, 2023 (9:37 am)
    
    To K
    I
    would be very curious, and suspect of where you got your ‘data’ about police presidents, and home depot.

Jay May 15, 2023 (6:53 pm)

At least we get to watch the sunset this time. I remember getting swept off the beach before sunset with Durkan’s policies, kind of killed the fun of the beach for me for a long time. I was really upset about it because I lived close by.

Kyle May 15, 2023 (8:05 pm)

Good thing the revived Park Rangers can’t help out on Alki thanks to a 10+ year old negotiated piece of paper with the Seattle Police union to constrain them to downtown parks that everyone forgot to renegotiate when they went to revive the program.

Alki resident May 15, 2023 (8:09 pm)

This should have started as soon as weather got nice. When will they learn…always trouble first sunny weekend. I did see police presence the next day (mobile unit). 6-8 fire employees on the beach, although they should spread out (walk the beach). Thank you in advance SPD and parks.

Chrissy D May 15, 2023 (9:41 pm)

How does a curfew matter when this incident happened around 6:30 pm, broad daylight. Time of day no longer matters with these crimes.

Runner May 15, 2023 (11:55 pm)

K. Too bad about Home Depot, but as a resident on Alki Avenue, when there is a police presence there is a significant difference in the speeding and reckless driving that happens on Alki. Thank you SPD! Please come around as often as possible and stay as long as possible. There are a great many of us that live here that are very thankful for your service.

Marty May 16, 2023 (12:09 am)

I don’t think I have seen a description of the shooter. Didn’t this happen in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses? Why no description?

Bob W. May 16, 2023 (12:14 am)

The City’s planned one hour difference in near-midnight hours is not going to solve this. Major physical access changes, enough to put a complete stop to unauthorized dangerous vehicle activity, are needed.Local residents’ car access remains essential, but other areas have residential-only parking that works better than does the free-for-all on Alki. During the problem season, vehicle access enforcement via license plate cameras could help, along with a constant police patrol in the danger area during problem hours.This detestable situation doesn’t happen at nearby Lincoln Park, where visitors have to park above the beach and walk down there, except for City maintenance trucks and the like.No cruising. No speeding. No drunken antics. Visitors walk down to the beach, and then walk back up to where they can park up above the beach.

Anne May 16, 2023 (11:18 am)

– there are not & never will be in the immediate future enough police to spare a significant number of them to provide a “constant police presence “ Alki Beach is a public beach – should be open & accessible to everyone- there are plenty of local residents that enjoy spending a few hours or even a day at the beach with their families- bringing all their beach accessories. That would need to drive. You want those folks to bus down( like there are so many !)there or walk -up & down Admiral way or from Westwood area-or practically anywhere else not in the immediate vicinity? What would you consider an authorized vehicle? One registered to a 98116,126,136 ,146 zip code only? Who would scan license plates- parking enforcement? Are there enough of them to drive around scanning plates all day long? If they find an unauthorized vehicle – what then- impound, ticket ??I don’t know what the answer is & am not sure there actually is an answer- closing the beach early perhaps -but this incident happened hours before the beach would have been closed. It happened in a small family oriented park off the main beach area- not between cars cruising Alki Ave. Does anyone even know how victim & shooter arrived there-walk, drive,friend? I just don’t believe closing Alki Ave is the answer.
BB May 17, 2023 (11:49 am)

Bob,A lot of this used to happen at Lincoln Park. When we moved into one of the Tudor houses across from the south parking lot in 2001 there used to be up to 100 young people partying on the beach or parking lot. There were broken beer bottles and cigarette butts in the kids play grounds. There were fights, shootings and drag races up Fauntleroy. The neighborhood worked with the Southwest Precinct Police Department and the Parks Department for years. They added security gates at the parking lots and police patrols through the park. Our neighbors called at every incident. The Precinct Captain told us the goal was for people to realize that partying and trashing the park would not be tolerated. And it finally worked.

Gaslit May 16, 2023 (6:33 am)

Just FYI- the shooting incident from last weekend happened at 6:30 PM. Maybe instead of the police, we could get the city council, the Alki residents who want all the streets closed and an army of mental health specialists to come enforce the closing hours of the parks.

Moima May 16, 2023 (7:23 am)

I think access to mental health specialists is the true solution but its so so so costly

Big Bling May 16, 2023 (8:28 am)

taking away the guns will help. a lot. also, not one for how we let loud mufflers stay around. how did that happen ?

Duwanesque May 16, 2023 (9:06 am)

Punish the residents of Alki who peacefully enjoy summer evenings while doing nothing to address the actual problem. As many others have noted this shooting happened around 6pm and also not on the beach. Visible, consistent police presence would actually help.

April May 16, 2023 (9:08 am)

Boo!!!! So everyone else gets punished because of some unlawful idiots! Pretty sure this will not stop us old school people from going down after 10:30pm!

Anon May 17, 2023 (2:30 am)

FYI I was down there around 11 and saw nothing tonight. Not sure why they’re saying that’s the plan when no cops were to be seen lmao.

SuperAwesome May 16, 2023 (10:39 am)

There’s been no arrest, why hasn’t there been a description of the suspect released? Based on the comments in the original story there were quite a few eye witnesses.

Alkilocal May 16, 2023 (10:49 am)

Please use this link as provided to add you input https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=RR7meOtrCUCPmTWdi1T0G0eS4rp_JVhPkBIUNciMVcZUM0ZMR1gzNVg4MzZBT0JHVUc2WDIwVkowRyQlQCN0PWcuadd your input: car free weekend daysearlier beach closure More actionable and preventive measures and tickets to speeding, drag racing, reckless driving, behavior and mischief.

April May 16, 2023 (11:10 am)

NO!!!!! Will not be punished because of a few idiots!

sgs May 16, 2023 (12:26 pm)

ONE HOUR! One hour earlier than normal closure. Not a big sacrifice if it keeps things safer. I understand the sentiment of not wanting to be limited in a choice to go to the beach, but heck, it closes at 11:30 anyway. Enjoy the sunset, the view and the darkening of the night and then go somewhere else. Giving up that privilege to keep things safe for folks sounds reasonable to me. On another topic, wondering how the shooter got away with so many people around? I hope the police have something to go on. This is awful.

S - In West Seattle May 17, 2023 (6:56 am)

When they say the beach will be closed at 10:30 PM that is literally just the Beach/walk way by bath house not Alki Ave. This will help a little but not stop anything from happening.

Sorry, comment time is over.