Published on SPD Blotter this afternoon, this report on how a car stolen on Capitol Hill wound up in the southeast West Seattle industrial zone on Saturday:

Police arrested the driver of a stolen vehicle Saturday afternoon in Southwest Seattle after he fled from officers, rammed patrol cars, and caused significant damage to a gas station convenience store.

At 3:39 p.m., a food delivery driver called 911 to report his vehicle had been stolen near 10th Avenue and East Pike Street. He had left his car running when he went into a restaurant to pick up an order, and when he came back out his Toyota sedan was gone. The victim told officers he could track the location of his car and provided updates on its location.

The suspect later became caught in traffic for a Mariners baseball game near Edgar Martinez Drive South and Occidental Avenue South. Police attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the driver sped away, entering lanes of oncoming traffic and endangering the many pedestrians and other motorists in the area.

Nearly an hour after the car was stolen, the victim reported it had stopped at a gas station in the 7800 block of Detroit Avenue SW [map]. The suspect had backed into a parking spot along a wall of the station’s convenience store. Arriving officers parked their patrol cars in front of the stolen car, boxing it in. When the officers stepped out of their cars and instructed the driver to exit the vehicle, he attempted to flee again, repeatedly driving the car forward and backward, alternately ramming the patrol cars and the building. Officers pulled the suspect out of the vehicle after a struggle and arrested him. Officers also interviewed and a female passenger in the vehicle and released her at the scene.

(SPD photo)

Police booked the 22-year-old driver into King County Jail for vehicle theft, eluding and property damage. Police also processed the suspect for DUI based on statements he made about recent narcotics use, and requested charges for violation of a protection order, as he was not supposed to be in contact with the female passenger. Lastly, officers notified the Department of Corrections they were booking the man, since he had a warrant for escaping community custody.

10:59 PM: For the second night in a row, police are investigating confirmed gunfire in West Seattle. Right now they have SW Charlestown blocked off in the 48th SW/49th SW vicinity, after finding shell casings following reports of gunshots. At least one person has reported bullet damage to their car. No injuries reported. The shots are believed to have been fired from a vehicle that sped away eastbound on Charlestown, but no description so far.

11:29 PM: Officers also have told dispatch that a house on 49th SW has bullet damage.

ADDED FRIDAY: Police say bullets hit one vehicle and two houses, and that they recovered more than a dozen shell casings. Meantime, an area property owner tells WSB:

There were 4 gunshots fired in the same location Tuesday, September 14th at 4am. Multiple neighbors heard the shots and called 911. SPD was dispatched but did not find anything. Neighbors report that they heard/saw a car speed away down Charlestown but did not get a description. I own a rental house in the area and found two bullet holes in the side of the house and one bullet was found in the bedroom. This shattered a window and broke a closet door. Luckily, the house is vacant at the moment – otherwise this may have been a bigger issue besides vandalism. Upon discovering the bullet and bullet holes we called SPD.

10:06 PM: Police investigating gunfire reports in north West Seattle have found evidence – at least nine shell casings. Dispatch noted 911 calls from areas including the 2600 block of 36th SW and the 2300 block of Harbor SW. One officer just radioed in that they’ve found at least nine shell casings “at the viewpoint.” (Whether that’s Admiral Way Viewpoint, Hamilton Viewpoint, or someplace else, they didn’t mention.) No injuries or property damage reported so far.

11:48 PM: Admiral Way Viewpoint, per a reader.

The city’s sharp rise in gunfire is in the spotlight today. First, a reader report on a West Seattle incident, from Anthony:

Just after 6:30 this morning, my wife and I were riding our bikes down Fairmount Ave and rounded the first corner just as the passenger in a stopped pickup truck fired three shots from a handgun (small caliber based on the sound) into the hillside at the first pullout on the right hand side. The truck, what looked like a mid-’90s white Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra, took off down the hill towards Harbor Ave. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good look at the vehicle occupants or license plate. We immediately stopped, turned around, and went back to the top of Fairmount and called the police. Several officers responded quickly and I gave them the information I had.

This was just a few hours before Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz and two other city leaders held an online briefing/Q&A session for reporters to talk about the city’s ongoing wave of violence involving people using guns.

He said the incidents were happening at an “unrelenting pace.” Diaz said police are doing what they can, with dozens of gun-related arrests and 700 guns seized so far, but the overall numbers are daunting: Citywide, 380 incidents this year involving gunfire – that’s 100 more than this time last year, 150 more than this time in 2019. Of this year’s incidents, 104 involved injuries or deaths. The city has had 35 homicide victims so far this year – two of those “delayed” (from incidents in previous years), and three-quarters were shooting victims, the chief said. He repeated that the department is understaffed; there’s money to hire officers but hiring is not keeping up with the pace of attrition.

The City Council was represented at the event by Councilmember Alex Pedersen, who said he hopes his colleagues will support money for recruiting and hiring incentives; midyear budget decisions are coming up in two weeks. Also participating was Rex Brown, who leads the city Human Services Department’s Safe and Thriving Communities division; he talked about city investments in community-safety programs, saying they’re addressing “risk factors” at the “societal and community levels.” The chief, too, acknowledged it’s a many-faceted problem, saying that it’s not just an increase in gunfire involving youth violence but also mental-health issues, such as road rage. Regardless of staffing levels, he said, police need community support for the violence to stop: “Talk to your friends and family, (tell them) ‘guns are not the answer’.”

(SPD photo from last Tuesday, bullet-flattened tire)

Last Tuesday, we reported on what police described as a “road rage” confrontation that included gunfire at the 5-way intersection west of the low bridge. Police talked to everyone directly involved, including the people who fired their guns, who claimed they did it in self-defense. Though no one was arrested or cited at the time, detectives continue investigating to determine if charges should be recommended. While they’ve spoken with some witnesses, this happened during commute time at a busy intersection and police tell WSB the detective on the case would like to talk with others who saw what happened. If you can help, you are asked to call the SPD tip line, 206-233-5000.

Police say one person was pistol-whipped and another narrowly missed by gunfire in the 1900 block of Harbor Avenue SW early today. They went to the area after a report of gunfire around 1:20 am; they found a 22-year-old man with a cut to the head. He wouldn’t talk to officers about what had happened but they say witnesses saw him pistol-whipped in a fight with someone who then fired multiple shots as the victim tried to run away. One bullet went through a parked van where a woman was asleep, just missing her. The pistol-whipping victim was taken to the hospital. Police are asking anyone with information to call their tip line at 206-233-5000.

6:23 PM: No injuries this afternoon when someone in a car shot at someone in another car at or near the 5-way intersection just west of the low bridge. It’s taken a while to piece this together, but here’s what we have so far: The victim(s) called police and met them along Avalon; gunfire damage to their car was reported to include a flat tire. Then the suspect(s) called 911 and met up with officers in Riverside, near 17th/Marginal:

(WSB photo)

Meantime, officers went to the original scene at the Chelan/Marginal/Spokane/Delridge intersection and told dispatch they found three casings – from two different guns. We caught up with police at the Riverside scene, and they told us they’re investigating this as a case of “road rage” but they were still sorting it out and hadn’t arrested anyone yet.

7:46 PM: Just talked to SPD spokesperson Det. Valerie Carson. Here’s what she says police now have, after talking to people in both cars: This started on Highway 99 as a “merging issue” involving people in a Honda (car in the background of our photo above) and Subaru. As the two cars proceeded westward, they got close enough that some yelling ensued. Then after they both crossed the low bridge, they were stopped at the 5-way light, when two people in the Honda got out and came over to the Subaru, pounding on its windows, At one point, someone from the Honda allegedly punched someone from the Subaru; they claimed someone from the Subaru spat at them. The Subaru driver decided to drive away; both people from the Honda pulled guns and fired. They told police they did so in self-defense, feeling that the Subaru driver was going to run over them; the Subaru driver claimed they were already pulling away when the people from the Honda shot at them. Bullets hit a rear tire. No arrests as police continue to investigate; Det. Carson says they did confiscate the guns, and that both people in the Honda had valid concealed pistol licenses for them.

ADDED 11:49 AM: SPD Blotter has a post about this – same narrative as we added last night after talking with Det. Carson (spelling corrected), but with two photos added – first, the Subaru’s flat tire:

(SPD photo)

And the guns surrendered by the people in the Honda:

(SPD photo)

The post also notes that each car carried a woman and a man at the time of the incident.

After reporting “two .40 cal handgun shots recorded at (2700 block 59th Avenue SW)” around 3 am, Edd “went outside this morning and (found) two shell casings on the ground.” He sent us photos of both; you can see one above. He had called police at the time, didn’t see anyone respond, but after calling them again about the casings this morning, he says the officer who responded to collect them as evidence said he was the original responder. No injury calls to that area overnight.

Per Seattle Police policy, SPD has gone public with their video from last night’s deadly shootout in White Center. See it here – if you choose to; please note the warning, as you see and hear gunfire in the video, and you see the man who was shot by SWAT officers, before, during, and after the gunfire. We don’t know anything more yet about the man who was killed; he was described only as a 22-year-old man suspected of a Seattle murder that happened “earlier this year.” Officers had gone to the house near 21st/100th to arrest him, and after they announced themselves, police say, he came out of the house holding a gun, and fired at them; they shot back, as seen and heard in the video, and he was declared dead at the scene. Police have also released this photo of the gun with which they say the man was armed, adding that “The gun was reported stolen in King County in June 2021.”

SPD says three officers were involved in the shooting and that they are on paid administrative leave.

ADDED MONDAY: The Seattle Times says the man who was killed was Isaiah Hinds, identified in June as the suspect in a murder at a South Seattle church in March.

Three items in West Seattle Crime Watch:

ARREST AFTER CATALYTIC-CONVERTER THEFT: From the preliminary police report for an incident this afternoon in the 10400 block of 41st SW in Arbor Heights:

A witness called 911 to report an in-progress theft of a neighbor’s catalytic converter. The suspect and vehicle description were provided to 911. Further updates gave a last-known direction of travel as the suspect fled the scene. A responding officer located the possible suspect vehicle leaving the area, and the vehicle and driver matched the provided descriptions. The vehicle was stopped and the driver was detained. Officers contacted the witness for further details and located the victim vehicle. The catalytic converter had been cut out and was missing.

The suspect was arrested and booked into the King County Jail; police say his vehicle “contained evidence of the crime,” so it was impounded.

WARRANT ARREST: Late last night, police arrested someone described in the preliminary report as a “known catalytic-converter thief in the Southwest Precinct [jurisdiction].” The report says this started with surveillance that detectives were conducting on this suspect and someone else with that same description. The warrant was for “escaping” state Corrections Department custody (while we don’t have further details on this case yet, that seldom means “escape” in the classic sense, but more often, a failure to meet requirements of release. The suspect was booked into jail.

BURGLARY ATTEMPT: Reported by a reader:

There was an attempted burglary at our place (Wednesday) within a block of Fairmount Park at 4:10 pm in the afternoon.

Whoever it was tried to use a pry bar and kick the door down, before I even had a chance to get downstairs. Please warn people to keep their doors locked, even during the day!

2:16 PM: If you’re wondering about all the sirens, police and fire have headed to the 2nd SW/SW Michigan vicinity beneath the 1st Avenue South Bridge, after a report of a man with a gunshot wound to the leg. So far, officers have told dispatchers, they haven’t found him.

2:20 PM: They’ve since found the victim, as well as what were described as shotgun-shell casings. They’ve been told a tan Cadillac with tinted windows might be involved.

2:44 PM: No updates so far.

3:57 PM: SFD says the ~40-year-old man who was shot was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

7:50 PM: The preliminary police report says:

During the mid-morning hours, a fight disturbance occurred in an encampment near SW Michigan St / SW Peninsula Pl. The fight was reportedly over narcotics and money. A few hours later, witnesses reported a large group of subjects arrived at the encampment looking for those involved in the fight. The group left a short time later. Just prior to (2 pm), a vehicle arrived, and four suspects exited. They approached the victim’s tent carrying a shotgun and edged weapons and confronted the victim. After a brief encounter, one of the suspects fired the shotgun twice, striking the victim on the right leg just below the knee. The suspects then fled the scene and left in the vehicle they had arrived in. Witnesses called 911 and requested police assistance while others began tending to the victim’s injury and loaded him into a vehicle. Officers arrived, located the victim and secured the scene while requesting SFD response. The victim was transported to HMC for further medical treatment. An area search was conduced with negative results for the suspects.

Police investigated an armed robbery Friday night at the Lucky 5 gas station/mini-mart (35th/Henderson). Their preliminary summary report says it happened around 9 pm; the robber approached the counter, pulled out a handgun, pointed it at the employee behind the counter, and demanded cash. The employee gave him what was in the register but the robber demanded money from the safe, holding the victim at gunpoint until that was handed over too. He fled with cash and the employee’s cell phone. Police responding to the area used a K-9 but weren’t able to find the robber.