West Seattle, Washington
10 Monday
(UPDATED 11:11 AM TUESDAY with new information)
(Added: WSB photos)
11 PM: Lots of sirens in south West Seattle, as one texter noted, and here’s why: A call for major backup went out after someone assaulted a police officer in the 9400 block of 27th SW. We don’t know how the call started but when the call went out for backup, one officer told her colleagues over the radio that there was probable cause to arrest a suspect – who is still being sought – for assault on an officer. No serious injury reported as there’s been no call for medics. The suspect was last reported headed southbound.
11:09 PM: Now there’s an SFD dispatch.
11:29 PM: We’re at the scene to see what more we can find out.
11:40 PM: Police at the scene say this began as a domestic-violence call. A responding officer was assaulted. No info yet on their condition.
12:13 PM: Still searching. As discussed in comments, the siren bursts are a search-related tactic.
3:39 AM: No further info; we’ll be following up with SPD when their media office opens later this morning.
11:11 AM: We’ve talked with police and obtained the narrative from last night’s incident:
According to the report, it started with a 911 call from someone saying their 21-year-old brother was banging on their apartment door and drunk, and was not a welcome visitor. Officers arrived and saw the suspect kicking the door. He tried to leave the scene. A struggle with officers ensued. That’s when, the report says, one officer “was kneed in the head.” A crowd had begun to form and another officer who was trying to provide crowd control was shoved in the chest by someone else. The person who did that ran into and then out of a nearby apartment. That’s when the search began but that suspect was not found. The report describes him only as male, black, dark complexion, 5’9″, 170, wearing a red Cardinals T-shirt and black jeans.
Ultimately the officer who was kneed was taken to the hospital and has since been released; two other officers were checked out by SFD medics at the Southwest Precinct, and one is described as having suffered minor injuries. The original suspect – the man whose brother had called 911 – is in jail for investigation of assault, resisting arrest, and domestic-violence property damage; jail records show he was booked two other times in just the past week, both on suspicion of trespassing.
4:53 PM: 24 hours after the mayor and police chief came to West Seattle to in essence campaign for council approval of the Seattle Police contract, the vote has just happened at City Hall downtown. The contract required seven council “yes” votes to pass and got eight, with Councilmember Kshama Sawant the lone “no” vote. West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold voted yes despite a number of concerns, explaining that – among other reasons – she has told constituents that she supports police staffing to address public-safety concerns, and didn’t see how that would reconcile with a “no” vote given the expectation that contract rejection would make SPD hiring even more difficult than it’s been lately. M
ADDED 9:31 PM: The Seattle Channel video from this afternoon’s meeting is available now, and we’ve embedded it at the top of this story. Also, we talked briefly with Councilmember Herbold after an unrelated community meeting we covered tonight. Asked to comment on her voting decision, she reiterated what she had said during the meeting – both that she felt she had to be consistent with her three years of telling constituents she supported increased police staffing, and also that she knew she let some people down, too. She said that when alternatives she was exploring turned out to be unworkable, she felt she had to vote “yes.”
(WSB photo)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 9:21 PM MONDAY: Multiple texters have reported hearing gunfire in the Delridge/Kenyon area, and though no injuries are reported, scanner traffic indicates police have found some evidence – “property damage.” We’re heading that way to try to find out more.
9:39 PM: Police are on SW Kenyon west of 24th.
9:50 PM: Officers told us at the scene that they have found three casings so far (photo added). No elaboration on the “property damage”; no injuries reported.
ADDED TUESDAY, 1:44 PM: In addition to the information and photos provided in comments below, we’ve learned that two people were injured – they showed up at a hospital later, according to the police report, which we requested and obtained. The officer wrote that he and another were dispatched:
Multiple 911 calls were received from the said location. On our way
to the scene, dispatch updated the call and said that a white 2-door sedan was seen leaving the scene.Prior to Officers arrival, everyone had fled the scene.
At the scene, (officers) found two shell casings on the road, a bullet fragment in the planting strip, a cellphone, keys and a chapstick on the side walk. The items were located just to the north of (7900 block) Delridge WY SW.
Bullet holes were located on the back portion of two apartment units … The bullets did not enter the living space of either units. …
Seattle PD Gang Unit Detectives responded to the scene. Gang Unit Detectives processed the scene and collected evidence.
Officers were informed by a witness on scene that the victims were possibly driven away from the scene by a white Dodge Challenqer. … No witnesses were located that actually witnessed the shooting.
While (officers were) still on scene, Dispatch updated over the air that two shootinq victims showed up at Highline Medical Center. Dispatch also updated that the white Dodge Challenger was seen parked outside the Hospital. Gang Detectives responded to the hospital and processed that scene.
Victim 1 … was shot in the left ankle. Victim 2 … was shot in the left calf. The white Dodge Challenger … was impounded to the processing room.
On the eve of a big public-safety-related City Council vote, Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best are coming to the West Seattle Junction Monday afternoon. Part of their visit is billed as a “neighborhood walking tour,” followed by a 4:15 pm gathering at Cupcake Royale where they “will meet with residents and business owners for coffee to discuss public safety and issues facing residents and businesses in the community,” according to the announcement we received tonight from the mayor’s office. (The Junction, you might recall hearing, is the city’s first neighborhood business district to start its own Block Watch.) This is happening on the eve of the City Council’s scheduled consideration Tuesday afternoon of the contract agreement with the police union, which won’t take effect unless seven of the nine councilmembers approve it and which has drawn some controversy.
(WSB photo, July 2015)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Another new real-estate listing of note has a unique backstory.
The auto-shop site at 9200 16th SW is up for sale as the result of a court settlement that traces back to the SWAT-involved drug raid we covered there in 2015.
It’s not mentioned in the listing, which heralds this as “Westwood Development Site” and says:
ZONED LR3 RC: 12,918 sq. foot lot, suitable for up to 14 townhomes at 1,350 sq. feet each or 19,000 sq. foot apartment Building (Buyer to verify). Excellent value at less than $65,000 per door. Development is rampant in this area. Excellent investment opportunity. Vacant at closing.
We recognized the address, as we’ve been checking in from time to time on the long-running court case’s files. Those files now contain a settlement agreement, filed in October. The settlement ends what had been a forfeiture case brought by the city in 2015.
The original filing’s documents tell the story of an unlicensed marijuana-sales operation at the site, known as “The Wolfpack,” including a detective’s report from 11 days of surveillance in 2015. On those days – scattered through the period of March to July – the detective wrote of counting 2,873 vehicles arriving to make purchases from the operation, plus 1,621 arrivals on foot, while the auto business handled a total of 7 cars for repairs. The documents also detail subsequent undercover buys which allegedly were made without requests for documentation such as proof of age.
The settlement agreement stipulates that the property will be listed for $900,000 and any offer below that would have to be approved by the city. The city will get 70 percent of the sale proceeds; owner Paul Noble, 51, will get 30 percent minus any and all fees and commissions. The city also gets to keep about half the $59,000 in cash that was seized.
In the extensive case files spanning three-plus years, a judge ordered the city to show this past February why the case should not be dismissed “for failure to prosecute” after both sides reportedly failed to fulfill a requirement to update the court on trial readiness. Lawyers for Noble subsequently responded that they expected felony drug charges to be filed against him shortly, and indeed they were; files show he then pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in July. Another city case seeking the forfeiture of his residence was dismissed.
7:20 PM: We’ve received a few questions about a police presence near 45th/Hanford. According to SPD Lt. Tammy Floyd, who happened to be speaking at the Southwest District Council meeting that your editor is covering right now, it involves a person in crisis who has barricaded themselves inside their home. There was some concern about a possible gas leak but police say there’s been no evidence of that so far. (Photo added: SFD was standing by in case.)
7:53 PM: Our crew has checked the area. The situation’s not resolved yet; 45th is closed between Hanford and Hinds.
8 PM: The situation has been resolved, our crew reports.
TUESDAY NIGHT: During the summertime Delridge Day festival, Southwest Precinct police are at the grill cooking for community members. Today, somebody came to the precinct to grill up lunch for the officers – and he didn’t have to go far. Brendan Moran is in the loss-prevention division at The Home Depot and explained that the company periodically shows up at police stations near their stores to provide lunch in appreciation of their help. Brendan noted that you can’t get much nearer to a Home Depot store than this precinct happens to be! He was there for a few hours starting at 11 am to catch officers coming and going at first-to-second-watch shift change.
ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: Lt. Steve Strand sent the following photo along with “huge thanks” to the Home Depot crew:
On Friday night, we reported on a robbery at the Admiral Safeway gas station and the police search that ensued. Today, we followed up with SPD and obtained the incident report. No arrest so far. But the report says police found evidence suggesting the robber might have had a getaway vehicle waiting. The incident narrative in the report is basically what we reported on Friday night – a man (same description as published that night) came in, demanded cash from the till, implied he had a gun, and left after the robbery. The report says the clerk didn’t actually see a gun but that the robber “reached toward the right side of his waistband and pulled up his sweatshirt” and kept his hand there while taking the cash. The K-9 officer who joined in the search found a “heat signature” nearby using what the report describes as a FLIR camera. According to the report, that “signature” indicated “a vehicle was parked for a long period of time while running” on the west side of 42nd SW next to the Safeway supermarket parking lot. Some sort of evidence – redacted in the report – was found there too. Surveillance video, meantime, showed the robber approaching from the north – crossing Admiral Way – and disappearing afterward into the alley between 41st and 42nd, east of the gas station. If you have any info, the SPD incident number is 2018-401639.
9:59 PM: Police are searching the Admiral District after a robbery was reported a short time ago at the Admiral Safeway gas station. Per police radio, the robber is described as white, male, about 50 years old, medium height/build, wearing a brown/camouflage ski mask, brown jacket, blue jeans. He is reported to have shown a gun in his waistband and is possibly headed southbound through the alley from there. If you have any information, call 911.
10:14 PM: Still searching. K-9 team too.
8:24 PM: In case you’re wondering about the Guardian One law-enforcement helicopter over eastern West Seattle – they’re helping police with a call about a person who is allegedly violating a court order near 24th/Thistle, according to the dispatch.
8:28 PM: Police say the situation is under control; G-1 is leaving.
The only monthly meeting with coffee and home-baked treats (pumpkin crumble this time) is now on hiatus until the new year. Here’s what happened when the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network met Tuesday night at the Southwest Precinct:
CRIME UPDATE: Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis said auto theft remains a big issue. We noticed that earlier in the day, looking at the slides from the most recent downtown SeaStat intradepartmental briefing (MVT = motor-vehicle theft):
Quick reminder now that the weekend is in view: Saturday is the twice-yearly Drug Take-Back Day, and you’re invited once again to take unneeded/expired medication to the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster) to get rid of it, 10 am-2 pm. Keeping it around could be a danger to someone in your household and/or a target for burglars. Last time around, SPD says, dropoffs at its precincts including this one totaled half a ton!
10:42 PM: If you’re west of The Junction and wondering about the police response in the Ercolini Park area – radio communication indicates police are investigating a driver who is suspected of hitting at least four other vehicles, including an SPD car. The civilian vehicles that were hit are reported to be along 48th SW near Oregon. No injuries reported.
11:38 PM: Photo added. The pickup in the photo was subsequently being towed. We’ll follow up with SPD in the morning.
10:49 AM: Per online records, the 60-year-old driver was booked into King County Jail for investigation of DUI.
As promised, we procured the police report about the Thursday street robbery that led to a search through south Morgan Junction and three arrests in west Gatewood.
(WSB photo, Thursday)
The report says it all started on board a bus headed northbound on Fauntleroy Way. The victim – 18 or 19, not a juvenile as first reported – said he got on board at the ferry dock. He said he was confronted on the bus and asked where to buy “weed.” The victim said he didn’t know but that the people who asked him continued staring at him. He felt uncomfortable so he got off the bus at Fauntleroy and Myrtle. They followed him. He crossed the street and they kept following him. Two of them demanded he give them his stuff and swung at him with closed fists. He tried to get away from them by going into nearby retirement center The Kenney but its doors were locked. So he ran north and wound up in the yard of a nearby house. Witnesses told police they saw the victim being beaten and kicked in the yard. The victim said they tried to steal his backpack and eventually got away with his iPhone and Gucci belt. The robbers/attackers then ran eastbound and by then police had been called. Three suspects were spotted at the Morgan Junction McDonald’s. When police arrived there, the three took off running eastbound. Patrol and K9 officers tracked them into the west Gatewood neighborhood where three juveniles were arrested near 41st SW/Heights Place SW [map]. The report says all three were booked into the juvenile-detention center. The victim, meantime, got his phone and belt back; police say he was curled up on the ground in “great pain” when they found him and that SFD medics recommended that he go to a hospital but he declined. We’ll follow up next week to see whether charges will be filed.
Home safety was the spotlight topic at the final West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting of the year, Tuesday night at the Southwest Precinct, so we’re starting with what the ~15 people in attendance heard from Jennifer Danner, the precinct’s crime-prevention coordinator:
She began by going around the room and asking people what they wanted to know about. Most had questions about video and cameras. Danner reminded everyone that she can do home-security assessments. She started with some myth debunking – “when a door is kicked in, it’s not the door that breaks, usually it’s the frame.” Changing the length of the screws with which your door is fastened is an easy, cheap way to help secure it, Danner said. When it comes to locks, exterior doors should have deadbolts – there too, the length is important; an inch-and-a-half throw is even better than the more-standard inch.
Window security – “You always want to add one more thing to your window,” since most windows can be broken into from the outside.
11:58 AM: Tweeted by Seattle Police: “Officers located an unaccompanied 2-year-old boy near 8th Ave SW and SW Henderson a short time ago and are looking to reunite him with his parents. If you’re missing a child, please contact the SW Precinct at 206-733-9800 or 911.” Working to find out more.
12:47 PM: We went to the precinct to ask at the front desk. The child was spotted around 9:30 am by someone who called 911. Parents/guardians apparently not found yet, as he is now in CPS custody.
2:46 PM: No further info on circumstances but we did just get word there’s been a reunion.
4:10 PM: And a clarification – Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Steve Strand tells us that while the child’s mother was found, the child remains with CPS for now “for safety reasons.”
Every year, Seattle University oversees the citywide Public Safety Survey about crime, safety, and policing, with findings that are then reported to SPD – and you. If you’d like to take this year’s survey, it’s now open – go here to start (and note the variety of language options). Want to know more first? Here’s the announcement published when results of last year’s survey were released.
P.S. If you want to talk about crime/safety in a more immediate manner – remember that tomorrow (Tuesday, October 16th) brings the last West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting of the year, 7 pm at the Southwest Precinct (2300 SW Webster).
Saturday night, in the span of less than two hours and 4 blocks, police investigated two incidents that sent people to the hospital. What exactly had transpired wasn’t clear in the early going, so we requested and obtained both SPD report narratives this morning:
8800 BLOCK OF DELRIDGE: Here’s our Saturday coverage. The police report says the initial call to 911 was from someone saying she’d been called by her sister, who said her boyfriend had been stabbed and the suspects were “still there.” Police went to the apartment and found no one there – but they did find blood and broken glass. Outside the building, they found the girlfriend’s mother.
While they were talking to her, they found out that medics had been called to treat an injured man a short distance south, at Delridge/Henderson. He turned out to be the man who the girlfriend had said stabbed the victim, according to her mother. The man at Delridge/Henderson claimed his wounds were from trying to defend himself. In the meantime, the K9 team investigating near the original scene finally found the victim, who flagged them down. He was described as intoxicated and uncooperative, and made various claims about how he became injured. Then police found the girlfriend, who told police she used to date the alleged attacker, who is a longtime friend of her current boyfriend, and that the two men started arguing about the relationship. It turned violent, she said, with the former boyfriend breaking a bottle over the head of the current boyfriend, then stabbing him with a piece of broken glass, and trying to strangle her. The 35-year-old ex-boyfriend was eventually arrested and is in the King County Jail for investigation of assault.
9200 BLOCK OF 17TH SW: Here’s our Saturday coverage. According to the police report, a man knocked on the apartment door of a woman he knows in this building and said he had been shot. Police found him lying on her couch with a bullet wound to the left hamstring. The report said he was uncooperative, refusing to answer questions about the circumstances or location of the shooting. The acquaintance said she hadn’t seen anything but did hear a gunshot that seemed to have happened in the building’s parking lot; another person later told police he had been outside at the time and saw a group of five or six people who scattered after what sounded like a shot; a “light-colored mid-sized SUV” left the area shortly afterward. Police did not find any shooting evidence in the area. The report notes the Gang Unit is investigating.
10:39 PM: Another “scenes of violence” response in South Delridge: This time, per dispatch, someone showed up in the 9200 block of 17th SW [map] and said they had been shot in the leg. Updates to come.
10:43 PM: Police arriving at the scene – reported to be in an apartment-building parking lot – are getting reports that a vehicle might have been associated with the shooting, possibly a light-colored SUV.
10:57 PM: The 30-year-old victim is reported to have a gunshot wound to his left leg and is being taken to Harborview by SFD medic unit. No further description of circumstances or suspect(s).
(WSB photos)
8:59 PM: SPD and SFD have a “scenes of violence” callout in the 8800 block of Delridge. Updates to come.
9:05 PM: This was initially described as a possible stabbing and police have since reported finding ‘the mother of the victim’ but no word on the victim’s status. The SFD response has closed.
9:16 PM: Per scanner, another call a couple blocks on Delridge is being linked to this one.
9:25 PM: We have finally made it to the scene. Some police at Delridge/Trenton, more – plus an ambulance – at the business corner of Delridge/Henderson. One person found there will be taken to the hospital, police tell us, but they’re not certain yet if it’s the person injured a couple blocks north (where radio exchanges earlier mentioned blood found in an apartment). No one in custody and we’re now seeing a K-9 team arriving.
10:23 PM: Per radio exchange, police have yet to finish sorting this out. They’re talking to others who had some role in whatever happened, and an SFD unit is headed back to the original Delridge/Trenton scene.
10:19 AM: If you’re wondering why police are currently searching in Arbor Heights: The search, including a K9 team, is in a wide area centered on 41st/100th but also stretching to the south and east. They’re looking for a woman suspected of assault in what’s described as a case of domestic violence. Partial description: 36-year-old white woman with dark hair, wearing a red shirt. If you have any information, call 911.
10:56 AM: No further updates; we’ll be checking later with police to see if they ever found the suspect, whose workplace was reportedly going to be checked too.
11:09 AM: SPD Det. Mark Jamieson tells WSB that the suspect was taken into custody and is being taken to King County Jail to be booked for investigation of assault.
(WSB photos)
9:20 PM: Thanks for the tips. Big police response right now at Delridge/Juneau as police investigate gunfire. No injuries; officers have more than a dozen evidence markers in the street (Juneau east of Delridge) and some damage is reported at Longfellow Creek Apartments on the other side of the intersection.
9:54 PM: Photos added. Police were too busy for further comment; no info so far on suspect description(s).
2:57 PM: Several people have asked about an incident that brought police and fire to California/Admiral this morning. We talked with police a short time ago and they stress that the investigation is continuing but here’s what they have so far: Det. Mark Jamieson says 911 started getting calls around 11:20 am about a “possible robbery or assault” situation near the Wells Fargo branch at 2358 California SW. A man was using the ATM when “three young people approached him – they had words, and at some point they started to assault him.” That’s when the man picked up a rock and hit one of them in self-defense. He also pulled out a handgun as they scattered – no shots were fired but that too was in self-defense, so far as police have found. Officers were arriving by then and detained the man while sorting out what had happened. They also found two of the suspects, including the one who was injured, and he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. Det. Jamieson says they believe they know the third one’s identity. The full report should be available by tomorrow and we’ll be following up.
4:25 PM: We’ve heard from the victim’s wife. She said he was pushed to the ground during the attack and was going to a doctor to be checked out.
ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: As mentioned in comments, we have obtained the full incident report, with names redacted by SPD. You can see it here (PDF).
| 81 COMMENTS