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UPDATE: False report of gunfire north of The Junction = fireworks; stolen silver Elantra

August 18, 2023 9:39 pm
|      20 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

Two more incidents to report, one unfolding right now:

FALSE REPORT OF GUNFIRE: 9:39 PM: 911 received multiple calls about this a short time ago. Dispatch told officers that one caller at an apartment building in the 4100 block of California claims somebody – possibly a neighbor – fired a gun from a balcony. No injuries reported. Police are trying to sort this out right now. We’ll add anything more we hear.

9:53 PM: Police are not finding any evidence of gunfire despite that report, and now believe it was fireworks – they’ve reported finding an “empty box.”

10:02 PM: Thanks to David for this video of what it sounded like from 44th/Andover:

(back to original report) Meantime, via email:

STOLEN SILVER ELANTRA: Stolen-car report tonight from Lauren:

PLEASE HELP! Stolen car- silver/gray Hyundai Elantra (license plate AQS2284) stolen (near Fairmount Park). If you see this car, please call 911 and reference case number 23-237899. My fiancé starts teaching in about a week, and really needs his car back.

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20 Replies to "UPDATE: False report of gunfire north of The Junction = fireworks; stolen silver Elantra"

  • John August 18, 2023 (9:45 pm)

    John here. Just north of 4100 California. Sounded like gunshots traveled from a moving car. Heard car rev and accelerate after gunshots. Gunshot noise traveled towards the Junction. 

    • Rhonda August 18, 2023 (10:44 pm)

      Many of today’s smaller performance sedans and hot-hatch cars backfire between shifts under hard acceleration and it sounds like gunshots.

      • WSRez August 18, 2023 (11:46 pm)

        @rhonda like what? What cars are built to backfire “between shifts under hard acceleration”? Just one example please. I’ll wait. Please stop posting nonsense on every crime report here. You have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s not constructive at best and blatantly misleading to unknowing readers at worst.  

      • WiseWoman August 20, 2023 (6:49 am)

        Kinda false. There are these gadgets you can buy on Amazon that clip on to your exhaust that makes the muffler sound like gunshots. After Alki man was shot,  it is safe to say that the incidents are related

  • Michael August 18, 2023 (9:47 pm)

    We live near Olympia Coffee, just north of the 4100 block. It wasn’t gunfire, it was fireworks.

  • West Seattle Mad Sci Guy August 18, 2023 (9:48 pm)

    I am 99% sure I heard this and thought it was just fireworks. I even thought at the time ‘people say gunfire sounds different’.  Don’t I have egg on my face…

  • Plf August 18, 2023 (9:51 pm)

    I’m at 44th and Andover, thinking it was fireworks, let’s shoot of fireworks with high fire danger

  • Fireworks August 18, 2023 (9:51 pm)

    It was fireworks. I’m at the junction, quite close to where they went off and heard the “sparkler” sound after the initial bursts. 

  • Wanda August 18, 2023 (9:52 pm)

    I saw definite fireworks in the sky at that same time from my house just north of 4100 California. 

  • WSB August 18, 2023 (9:52 pm)

    Yeah, despite the apartment person who claims they saw gunfire, police have just found an empty box of fireworks. So we’ll be updating.

  • Chris August 18, 2023 (9:59 pm)

    It was a box of mortars set off just north of Hotwire coffee.  

  • WSB August 18, 2023 (10:03 pm)

    I just added reader security video that captured the sound, and flashes.

  • confused August 18, 2023 (10:07 pm)

    It was fireworks. I saw them from my window. Very confused why they were being shot off though. 

  • Annoyedon44th August 18, 2023 (10:55 pm)

    The fireworks were set off in or right next to the car park of First Lutheran at 44th and Dakota. There one or two initial pops that sounded like possible gunshots then the full scale mortarair bursts went on for about 30s. 

  • WSNeighbor August 18, 2023 (11:04 pm)

    I live on the top floor of my building in the 4200 block of California and saw the fireworks clearly from my window looking due north.

  • WS Res August 18, 2023 (11:06 pm)

    We were out back at Lady Jaye. Definitely fireworks.

  • Lola August 19, 2023 (9:19 am)

    I am at 50th & Alaska.  I heard them looked up the block & thought it was about 48th & Oregon as that is where I could see the Fireworks Explosions coming from.  My husband woke up & came out and said did you just hear gunfire?  I said no it is Fireworks a few blocks over.  We were not sure if there had been a game and someone won?  

  • Anne August 19, 2023 (9:50 am)

    Loud and high,  totally unexpected. Thought maybe someone was celebrating a Mariner win.   

  • anonyme August 19, 2023 (11:28 am)

    Fireworks are dangerous at any time, but especially during these dry conditions.  Do we really want West Seattle to become another Maui, or do we DEMAND that these would-be arsonists be prosecuted?  The fireworks issue has been ignored by law enforcement for far too long.

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