WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Gunfire on 18th SW

The photos are from a resident near 18th and Orchard, reporting confirmed gunfire in the 7100 block of 18th last night. He reports, “10:19 pm. 6 shots fired. Took SPD an hour to respond and they said ‘well, we looked around earlier and didn’t see anything.” I had to lead them to the pile of shell casings on the street.” Police, he adds, left some of the casings behind, and they were still in view this morning:

They didn’t bother to take any statements despite the fact that there was a witness present who saw the car that did the shooting. A supervisor came by around 11:45 and told the officer present to bag the four shell casings they had found. And then everyone left.

I went back to the scene this morning only to find the two shell casings I had pointed out to the officer still there (including one that he had comically left his business card tented over), 6 bullet holes in the pavement, and a spent round.

I called cops again and they sent an officer out to collect the evidence and he was confused that they hadn’t picked up the casings that I showed them last night. He said that their watch shift was unaware that there had even been a shooting in the area and assumed that since there was no property damage or anyone hurt it just hadn’t been passed on to new shifts.

We suggested that the concerns/questions raised by how this unfolded be brought to the SPD community meeting this Thursday at Delridge Community Center.

21 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Gunfire on 18th SW"

  • K May 24, 2026 (2:39 pm)

    Gotta be nice to have a job where people sing your praises just for existing, and anyone who questions the quality of your work or the amount of money spent on the “service” you provide is automatically a political actor who loves crime.  Must be nice to have no accountability whatsoever.

    So sorry to the neighbors who had to experience the shooting in the first place, and doubly so that you had to contend with utter indifference from the people whose job it is to help.

    • Adam May 24, 2026 (3:42 pm)

      You’re 100% right, whether a cop or a teacher, no one is automatically a saint with zero responsibility for their actions. 

    • Rob May 25, 2026 (6:51 am)

      Hey K why don’t you sign up show us how it’s done. 

  • BDR May 24, 2026 (4:13 pm)

    Wow, seems like SPD wasn’t really interested in gun fire reported given the lack luster response and failure to even collect all the evidence. So frustrating. I hope those who called the police and anyone who witnessed what happened write to the police chief and contact a TV news team. Unfortunately it seems like it takes bad publicity to get things the attention they should be given. What a shame.  

  • Chris May 24, 2026 (5:01 pm)

    There was another case of this yesterday at Sylvan and Holly. Not sure what that’s all about. 

  • 1994 May 24, 2026 (9:20 pm)

    And that story explains why so much gunfire continues unabated in Seattle…..the police don’t seem to care and don’t seem interested to investigate if there is no damage or injury….. We pay their salary. They should take their job seriously. 

  • Dog whisperer May 25, 2026 (6:05 am)

    Our police force is a perfect representation of our mayor and city council. Defund the police they said. So half our workers went to work elsewhere. Play stupid games win stupid prizes. 

    • FunFacts May 25, 2026 (11:27 am)

      SPD was not defunded. 

      • Dog Whisperer May 26, 2026 (9:03 am)

        Like any workforce anywhere when our peace officers understood that city leaders didn’t want them they went to work at the town next door. Quite rationally. Now we citizens are bearing the brunt of the ensuing chaos created by city mismanagement. 

    • Foop May 25, 2026 (4:17 pm)

      I assume you meant to say this police force is a reflection of our former mayor, Harrell, since much of what it looks like today is a result of hiring and staffing under his admin.i do hope Katie makes some changes but she takes some blame keeping the dead beat sod leadership keep their jobs.

  • Meeee May 25, 2026 (8:40 am)

    SPD cops make well over $100K a year and get away with being this lazy and complacent.                     I hope the resident who had to deal with these lazy cops calls in a complaint to the Internal Investigations unit.                                                                                                                                                                     As an aside, leaving a tented business card over an item of evidence is actually a legit thing.  Patrol officers do that because they readily have business cards and don’t normally have actual evidence markers.  BUT, the tented business card is so the evidence to be picked up is visible to whomever (detective or officer) is responsible for picking up the evidence item.

    • Dog Whisperer May 26, 2026 (9:04 am)

      We only have half a police force yet you seem to expect full police service?

  • InternalInvestigation May 25, 2026 (9:31 am)

    Definitely initiate an internal investigation. Go above SPD if possible.. definitely that was an inadequate and inept investigation. Complain as high up as you can get.. be sure you have the names of the officers involved and any supervisors in particular. We have a right as citizens of this city to have gunfire taken very seriously.. It’s dangerous and can cause death.. I am personally surprised at the terrible job they did. Make a complaint as high up as you can get and definitely initiate an internal investigation.  you have a right to be safe! You have a right to have a diligent investigation! Pursue it deeply!

  • KT May 25, 2026 (9:38 am)

    Wow.  A lack of professionalism, training, supervision, interest?  Take your pick.

  • Thank you SPD May 25, 2026 (1:26 pm)

    This doesn’t bother me at all. SPD responded, found a few shell casings, took some in for evidence/forensics, and went on with their business. There was no victim, no bullets through house walls or windows, and no one saw much of anything. SPD is dealing with nightly SHOOTOUTS at Aurora and 97th and scenes of violence all over the 84 square miles of the city. They’re doing this with staffing levels that are dangerously low. I don’t want them wasting time at a location where further investigation would turn up absolutely nothing.

    • ExcellentData May 26, 2026 (7:14 am)

      I really appreciate you supplying that data. That makes a lot of sense. SPD has a very difficult job to do and they are inadequately staffed . They need our support.. we also need to hire more police …and get the STATE  level of laws straightened out so that people stop getting back out on the street after they commit crimes. Definitely.THANK YOU SPD ❤️❤️

      • dwg May 26, 2026 (12:56 pm)

        but police staff did show up, and didn’t care enough to take a witness statement. does that scream inadequate staffing, or SPD DGAF, to you?

    • Pete May 26, 2026 (7:21 am)

      The toxic reputation of the police in this city prevents them hiring decent officers. Who would want to work for such a broken institution? 

    • dwg May 26, 2026 (9:25 am)

      They didn’t bother to take any statements despite the fact that there was a witness present who saw the car that did the shooting.”doesn’t bother you at all? This is what quiet quitting looks like. 

      • Thank you SPD May 26, 2026 (1:10 pm)

        A description of a car is pointless when there was no victim. Illegal discharge of a firearm is a minor misdemeanor crime in a city full of 24/7 felonies. Even if caught they’d receive almost zero consequences.

  • Neighbor May 27, 2026 (10:40 pm)

    Some seen to be missing the possible reason for “indifference”aside from lack of injury or property damage. No police commissioner gets applauded by the mayor for stats that showing increasing incidents of gun fire.The whole system is run like a business, where the business owner needs to bend true statistics – that’s the problem.

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