6:38 PM: Police and fire are arriving at Alki for a report of a man shot in the chest. The location has changed a few times on the SFD log – somewhere between 57th and 60th. They’re still looking for the victim but officers have told dispatch they’ve found a car, with blood in it, at Lander and Marine. Updates to come.
6:45 PM: They’ve found the victim and describe him as an “approximately 25-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest.” There’s reportedly a second injured person at a different scene.
6:49 PM: It’s very chaotic but responders have said they’ve only found one victim. That man is getting CPR and is with medics near 56th/Alki. Police are closing Alki Avenue from 56th to 57th “for a while.” No one is reported to be in custody so far.
6:58 PM: Added a reader photo. The victim is being taken to Harborview.
7:13 PM: We have a crew in the area. Alki is still taped off in the area.
To the east of this, police are going to block off traffic at Bonair, since they’re noting it’s difficult to turn drivers around at 55th.
7:43 PM: Commenters have noted that this happened in the Whale Tail Park vicinity – police are looking for evidence there:
This SUV nearby has bullet holes:
(Reader photo)
We’re still waiting to hear from the police PIO at the scene.
7:53 PM: After a tip, police have taken a suspect described as an armed juvenile into custody, but we don’t know yet if he’s believed to be a suspect in the shooting.
8:11 PM: The other vehicle reported to have been involved is being towed to SPD evidence processing:
A police officer is being treated nearby for some kind of minor injury.
8:22 PM: Alki Avenue will be reopened (as soon as TV crews move their cars), police say. The ongoing investigation will focus on the Whale Tail Park scene. We found this apparent bullet damage in a window nearby:
8:39 PM: SFD says the victim was still alive, in critical condition, when transported, and has an age update – “approximately 30.”
8:59 PM: Police say the victim has died. Meantime, Seattle Parks is going to close Alki for the night and police are going to start telling people to leave. (added – David Hutchinson‘s video of police announcing the closure:)
9:28 PM: We’re going to upload and add video of the media briefing with Det. Judinna Gulpan but the only additional detail was that first word of the shooting came from a Parking Enforcement Officer who happened to see it, and that they believe the victim was driven from the shooting scene by Whale Tail to the spot where medics and police found him on Alki Avenue. Otherwise, no comment on arrests, descriptions, circumstances. (added – here’s the video:)
10:09 PM: Police have just told dispatch that Alki is “pretty well cleared out.”
10:26 PM: For context, checking the archives, tonight’s victim is the first person shot at Alki since a shooting that injured two people last Halloween. This is the first deadly shooting at Alki since 22-year-old Tilorae Shepherd was killed in June 2021 (the suspect continues to await trial). However, this was the third deadly shooting in West Seattle in five weeks, after 20-year-old Ka’Don Brown was found dead April 8th on the Chief Sealth IHS campus, and 41-year-old Chad Anderson was found dead on 15th SW between Barton and Cambridge last Monday. No arrests reported in either of those cases. The SPD tipline for information on any of these cases, including tonight’s shooting death, is 206-233-5000.
ADDED 11:11 AM SUNDAY: Alki is open today as is Whale Tail Park, with people at both. The SPD mobile precinct and two KCSO Transit Police cars were parked at the beach.
MONDAY AFTERNOON: SPD says no arrests in this case yet – the juvenile-with-gun arrest mentioned above turned out to be unrelated. … Parks confirms they will close Alki early again throughout the summer, starting Memorial Day weekend – details as soon as later today. (We will have a separate followup with these updates and more.)
ADDED WEDNESDAY: Noting for the record, pending a separate story, that the victim was identified today as 25-year-old Davonte Sanchez.
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