West Seattle, Washington
16 Tuesday
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli; added at 10:57 pm)
An apartment building at 3821 Beach Drive, according to 911; WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is there so we should find out more shortly. Map here. Thanks to everyone who has texted/e-mailed/called about this! 10:02 PM UPDATE: Christopher says residents reported hearing “an explosion.” 10:12 PM UPDATE: Christopher says fire crews are wrapping up, so not a big incident BUT Beach Drive is closed in both directions at that spot. He also confirms, no injuries. What fire there was, was in a lower unit on the water side (this is a waterfront building), and the person who lives in the unit was NOT home at the time. Christopher reports fire investigators are there now and trying to figure out how the fire started. 10:25 PM UPDATE: One lane of Beach Drive now open. 10:40 PM UPDATE: The woman whose unit caught fire has just returned home to an upsetting shock. Forgot to mention, in relation to the earlier mention that residents thought they heard an explosion, they told Christopher the building does NOT have natural-gas service.
6 am June 30th. Here’s the update that just came in from Charlestown Cafe co-owner Larry Mellum, 4 1/2 months after the fire that forced the beloved restaurant to close for a while:
The Fire Dept. has approved our new Hood System so we are “good to go!!” This week we will finish getting the restaurant put back together and cleaned-up. Believe me it has been a long and frustrating process but the end is near. So, we will make it official. We will be re-opening Monday, June 30th at our usual time 6:00 a.m. … The support we have received from this community has been incredible. We at ‘Charlestown want to thank you all very, very much!! We will see you on the 30th.
If you missed the original news of the February fire, you can catch up with our Charlestown Cafe news archive (newest to oldest), which includes the most recent update from Larry a week and a half ago, when he told us he’d just had a meeting with his staff to see how many he’d have to replace (since the restaurant had been closed so long) – and he reported “Everyone showed up!”
(first photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli; second photo by co-publisher Patrick Sand)
No one hurt and mostly smoke damage, according to the team member who’s just arrived on scene (“ton of firetrucks” according to one of the e-mail tips we received, as you can also see from the 911 log; thanks to everyone who e-mailed and texted!). Here’s a map; details to come. 1:52 PM UPDATE: Here’s what the incident commander told us at the scene: Mostly smoke damage; nobody hurt; cause unknown; investigators arriving now. There was some concern among neighbors that a dog might have been injured in the fire; incident commander says the residents’ two dogs might have breathed in a little smoke but are OK. ADDED 2:40 PM: Another photo from Christopher:
Looks like a fairly serious crash at 30th/Trenton involving a car and motorcycle; a fire official at the scene tells us the woman riding the motorcycle has just been taken to the hospital, and the injuries were serious enough that authorities will have to do a major investigation, though the people in the car (which is shown at left; the motorcycle was down in a separate spot) appeared to be OK — so avoid that stretch of Trenton, which is closed off for at least a couple blocks east of 31st (here’s a map; all this is not far from Westwood Village, so if you are heading there from the west, use the Barton entrance instead). Too soon for investigators to say exactly how/why the crash happened. 9:02 PM UPDATE: We just went by to check – the area’s still blocked off and the investigation continues. 10:22 PM UPDATE: The scene is now cleared and the road’s open again.
We’ve got someone on the scene to find out more – he reports “smell of smoke in the air” and traffic blocked off at 16th/Henderson (map) – on approach to the scene of a “fire in building” call at 9027 16th SW, an apartment building. More shortly. 5:28 PM UPDATE: 16th is closed between Henderson and Barton till the fire units all clear out – but that may not be too long; firefighters at the scene tell WSB “contents of a room” caught fire, and we’re seeing some units already pulling back. No injuries reported.
(scroll down/refresh for the latest, we are adding updates and pix to the bottom of this post)
(added 9:35 pm: photo of Admiral Safeway service station, which is dark though the nearby store is not)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Just collecting info on this – Seattle City Light has very broad boundaries for what it describes as an “Alki outage,” while e-mail we’ve received describes it as North Admiral. More to come. 9:10 PM UPDATE: City Light says this is one of several outages affecting more than 10,000 homes and businesses in different areas of the city – here’s an excerpt from a news release received minutes ago:
Seattle City Light repair crews were responding to several scattered power outages throughout the utility’s service territory … after steady winds approached 35 mph.
By 8:30 p.m. about 12,000 customers were affected by the outages in Tukwila, unincorporated King County, Alki Beach and the Sacajawea neighborhood of northeast Seattle.
The specific causes of the outages were not immediately known. Until crews discovered the cause, it was impossible to provide an estimate for when power might be restored. Additional crews were being called in to
help restore power.
A WSB team member is heading north to report back on who’s out and who’s not; we’ll also be checking with City Light for progress reports. 9:20 PM UPDATE: We’re collecting weather links too. Here’s the hourly observations from the National Weather Service — “K91S” is Alki Point, with 34 mph sustained at 9 pm. Thanks to Lou for including this live weather link from Our Lady of Guadalupe (near High Point) in comments. 9:22 PM UPDATE: On California, the outage starts north of Admiral Safeway (which has power), and continues north to Walker (map). We’re checking east and west boundaries – stand by — to the east, Jack in the Box is dark; more to come. 9:27 PM UPDATE: Power is out along Admiral all the way downhill to The Bridge, according to our roving reporter, who is now heading west on Admiral to see how far it stretches toward Alki/Beach Drive. Keep the updates coming in comments – where Pete has reported downed-tree trouble in Pigeon Point – thanks! 9:33 PM UPDATE: On the west side, the outage ends at about 45th SW/Admiral – if you know of any pockets west of there that are out, please post a comment or e-mail us. Note that in the outage zone, businesses that are out include Metropolitan Market and the Admiral Theater. 9:43 PM UPDATE: Avalon is out of power too – up to Genesee (map). That includes the Luna Park Cafe area. 9:50 PM UPDATE: North of Fauntleroy on 35th, power is out on the east side of 35th (and downhill from there), but the west side seems OK. 9:55 PM UPDATE: City Light has put up its webpage with outage info – but the West Seattle boundaries are the same ones listed in the news release which are not the same ones we’ve verified (it mentions Alki Ave but we’re told Alki is OK, for example); it says almost 3,000 homes/businesses are out in West Seattle. Still no estimate on restoring power. 10:03 PM UPDATE: This photo just in from Elena Daly (thank you!), who photographed the seawall wave action at Constellation Park south of Alki Point about an hour ago:
10:12 PM UPDATE: City Light outage hotline has an update of sorts on the West Seattle situation – but there’s no new info – just “no known cause and no known time for restoration.” 10:27 PM UPDATE: Just uploaded this video from Admiral – camera sat on the dash as we drove from the outage zone (alley by Admiral Library, past Metropolitan Market, toward Admiral Safeway gas station) and into the not-out zone (Admiral Safeway itself):
11:04 PM UPDATE: City Light just sent another update but there are no West Seattle specifics; the utility reiterates that it’s called in extra crews and will work through the night as needed. We will continue checking for updates and will also head back out in a bit to see if anyone’s gotten power back in affected West Seattle areas yet. 11:37 PM UPDATE: No new outage info, but the “forecast discussion” promises things will calm down overnight. 12:06 AM UPDATE: Comments probably beat us to this report, but we’re just back from a quick spin through the FORMERLY blacked-out zone, and looks like everyone’s back on.
(photo added 3:40 pm)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Thanks to those who have called/e-mailed about the major police presence in the 16th/Trenton vicinity (map) and beyond — police tell us they are looking for an armed-robbery suspect who got away on foot. Working to get info on what/where was robbed. 3 PM UPDATE: More information from Detective Nick Bauer at SWP: Officers are going through neighborhoods in the late 8000s/9000 block areas of 16th and 17th looking for the robber, who held up the GameStop store on Roxbury with a gun. He even pointed the gun at an officer at one point but managed to get away. We’ll keep you updated on the search as we find out more. 3:18 PM UPDATE: Lt. Steve Paulsen just confirmed that the suspect has been arrested. 3:33 PM UPDATE: GameStop has this sign on the front door.
Police were still inside the store interviewing employees about the incident as of 3:20 pm. We have a phone call and email into their coporate headquarters in Texas to see when the store might reopen.
“Fire in single-family residence” callout in the 3800 block of Delridge (map) – right by The Bridge – WSB team member en route to check it out. 2:51 PM UPDATE: Small fire, “handled before (fire crews arrived),” according to firefighters on the scene, who are already packing up to pull out (they later told us it involved transients and smoking – the house is apparently vacant).
Since more than a few people have e-mailed and texted, just wanted to let you know we’re monitoring the scanner to see if we can figure out what the Admiral-area search is about (perhaps there’s an area resident with direct knowledge?) … nothing obvious so far (and we have the helicopter frequency on our scanner too so we usually hear what they’re up to), and there’s no 911 medic calls in the area, which at least indicates that if a crime was involved, nobody’s hurt. We’ll update if we find anything out. 10:42 PM UPDATE: This is still not official info but two different e-mails have said the same basic thing so we feel comfortable about passing it along – apparently some kind of assault happened in the area. Absolutely no information about circumstances, but police told one resident that they were looking for an “assault suspect.” Don’t know if that person was found – still no scanner traffic hinting at something active. 12:39 AM POSTSCRIPT: Still not another shred of info, anecdotal, scanner, or otherwise. Will try our best to see if we can reach anyone at the precinct tomorrow for followup.
The police car shown in that video clip, and a pickup truck, suffered notable left-front-end damage after a collision within the past hour at the curve just uphill/south from the Fauntleroy ferry dock; map here. (Thanks to the cell-phone tipster who texted us with word of this.) Traffic is flowing past the scene again, and a tow truck was there while we were there; no info on the circumstances but officers at the scene told us “everyone is OK” and the fact no medic units were called out seems to underscore that. THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: According to police Lt. Steve Paulsen, the crash happened while police were responding “to a disturbance at Lincoln Park” and is blamed on slick roads. He confirms all involved are OK.
Thanks to Joe for the tip. This is at Jan’s Salon at California/Frontenac (map). The driver is OK and says he missed the corner swerving to avoid something or someone. Nobody was in the beauty shop because it hadn’t opened yet; we’re told the owner has been called and is on the way – we’ll check back in with them a little bit later. Looks like significant damage to at least this corner of the salon:
Thanks to those who’ve texted us in the past few minutes about a big police presence with roadblocks just west of The Junction – described by one text as Genesee between 45th and 49th and Alaska, by another as 47th to 51st between Hudson and Juneau. We’re monitoring to see if we can figure out what it’s all about – sounds like some sort of search under way; no medic calls in the area so doesn’t appear to be anything that left someone hurt, or worse, at this point. 11:49 PM NOTE: Still no details on this … if we don’t get any tonight, we’ll let you know when we are able to find out from the precinct what it was about.
Thanks to tipsters who e-mailed about seeing huge contingent of fire crews rushing to this. Exact address is on 911 log as 4511 35th SW, our crew’s in the area and trying to pinpoint. 6:31 PM UPDATE: Finally found it – alley behind apartment/commercial buildings along 35th near Snoqualmie, south of Alaska (alley is west of 35th) (map) – smoldering electrical vault, neighbors tell WSB it started about an hour ago, some units are without power because of it. Several engines and City Light still on scene. No injuries reported. 6:39 PM UPDATE: City Light also says it’s had trouble with this vault before, because of rewiring for buildings in the area, some of which have apparently had intermittent outages. Photos to come. 6:52 PM UPDATE: Photos added. Above, the fire units; below, the vault (Friday morning addendum — City Light tells WSB repairs were completed at about 1:35 am today):
Just starting to check this out now. 911 log says it’s in the 6000 block of 21st SW, which is near the Croft Place intersection east of Delridge. Team member heading that way, will update here when we get info. King County property records describe the address listed on the 911 log for this call, 6025 21st SW, as a single-family home owned by the city. 6:58 PM UPDATE: Neighbors tell us at the scene that this was a domestic dispute – a woman reportedly stabbed a man and he’s gone to the hospital. “It’s all over now,” says our reporter at the scene. Checking with police to find out more. 7:37 PM UPDATE: Police media-info line tells the story as following: 18-year-old woman under arrest, suspected of stabbing boyfriend “in his 20s” in the front yard of the house, with a “large kitchen knife.” First 911 call came from a neighbor at 6:12 pm. The victim is at Harborview Medical Center with what police describe as “life-threatening injuries.” The woman is expected to be booked into county jail, facing a possible charge of felony domestic-violence assault. No one else hurt, no one else involved or being sought, according to police spokesperson Jeff Kappel (who also adds there’s NO new information on last night’s Delridge shootings).
(scroll down for latest updates – newest update, 2:08 am)
(photo of Delridge/Juneau roadblock taken by Sage K, added 11:53 pm)
Helicopter and many police involved right now in search centering on the 5600 block of Delridge. The call is “assault with weapons 14” which usually means multiple patients known or suspected. Trying to find out more. Thanks to those who e-mailed us with first word. 11:03 PM UPDATE: Whoever they’re looking for in this, scanner traffic indicates they’re not in custody yet, so if you’re in that area, be safe and be sure to call 911 if you see/hear anything/anyone suspicious. 11:05 PM UPDATE: One TV report says woman and boy shot. We heard scanner traffic talking about a 12-year-old male gunshot victim so we believe that’s from this incident. We’re also hearing that police may be looking for two suspects. 11:10 PM UPDATE: Victims taken to Harborview Medical Center, which indicates serious wounds. According to King County records, 5625 Delridge is a duplex. 11:17 PM UPDATE: According to the police media-info line, this started with a 911 call around 10:30 pm from a woman reporting hearing 10 to 12 gunshots. The media-info line describes the victims’ wounds as “non-life-threatening” and also says a third person was believed to have been shot at, but not hit. 11:36 PM UPDATE: Nearby residents say the helicopter has left the area, but we are not hearing any scanner indications of any arrests so far. Sage K does report northbound traffic is still being rerouted at Delridge/Juneau, where police have the road blocked. Sage also sent photos; stand by. 12:01 AM UPDATE: Lots of new info in update we just got from the Seattle Police media-info line. Most important: “Tentative” description of the vehicle police are seeking – a burgundy SUV. That’s ALL the information they have on possible suspects. Also, they identify the victims as a mother and her 12-year-old child. She was shot twice in the chest; he was shot in the back of the shoulder. Both are expected to survive, according to police. They say the search and investigation currently involves: Guardian 1 (helicopter), K-9, CSI, homicide, and gang units. Nobody in custody as of this report filed moments ago. 12:47 AM UPDATE: Sage K reports in comments that Delridge is now fully open again. No notable scanner activity in the case for a while, meantime. (We’ll keep monitoring till at least 2 am and will post whatever we hear/learn …) 2:08 AM UPDATE: For anybody still awake and wondering, no new developments reported. We’ll continue to monitor for a while longer, as we’re still working on an unrelated article that has to be done before the WSB newsroom shuts down for the night.
Thanks to Mac for the tip:
> There’s a car that jumped the curb westbound on The Bridge, up the hill by Walking on Logs. Heavy rescue is on the scene, traffic is slow.
UPDATE: Tow truck on the scene as we arrived – traffic moving normally now. Here’s a photo. Nobody hurt so far as we can tell; fire crews cleared pretty quickly:
Not sure exactly how many vehicles were involved; debris scattered over a fairly wide range (note the foreground of above photo). Medics appeared to be helping at least one person. Obviously, stay away from the area TFN. 4:13 PM UPDATE: Tow truck is just now helping clear the scene; should be open again soon.
(photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli shows SWAT team members, with shields)
Just got word from the scene, the standoff is over. Relatives tell WSB it started about 1 pm when the suspect tried to cut himself with a knife; a relative called 911, and the standoff ensued from there. Again, according to what we have been told at the scene, no one was hurt, and things in that area (5400 block of 31st; map) should begin returning to normal.
UPDATE: Here’s some pictures from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli.
Just after 1 pm the initial response included a City Light truck.
That’s the house where the suspect lives. It’s about 100 yards west of 31st. Police kept residents and the media on 31st and allowed no one to go no further for the first hour – except the suspect’s aunt, who went in with a negotiator:
About 30 minutes before the standoff ended, neighbors were allowed back into their homes:
ADDED 7:18 PM: This video clip shows an unusual side effect … two school buses that needed to get through the area, which is on a narrow, steep street, and had trouble getting around everything from police to fire to TV crews:
(photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
Heavy police presence including SWAT team at a house in the 5400 block of 31st SW (map). It started as an assault with weapons call; we don’t know if anyone is hurt, but neighbors tell WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli there’s been trouble at the house before. One person is reportedly inside; it’s just a standoff right now. 2:35 PM UPDATE: Here’s what else Christopher and another WSB team member on the scene have learned — According to family members, no one has been hurt; the weapon involved is a knife. Police negotiators arrived a few minutes ago and are either talking to the suspect or trying to talk with them. Obviously this is an area to stay well clear from until it’s all over; we’ll have photos/video later. 2:55 PM UPDATE: Police have allowed some nearby residents to go back into their homes. 3:27 PM UPDATE: Word from the scene – it’s over, ended safely. Separate post to come.
(video added @ noon, quick look at police presence at scene)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Just in from a reliable tipster:
Attempted break-in 37th north of Admiral
Three black male teens – looked about 16-17 yrs old
Two PERHAPS apprehended on Admiral Way bridge over ravine
Police in neighborhood looking for third suspect
Remember, if you see anything/anyone suspicious, CALL 911 – police reiterate this over and over. More on this when we get it. 10:25 AM UPDATE: The WSB team member on the scene reports two suspects are indeed in custody by Merrill Gardens/Admiral Heights and being questioned now, after first having been spotted in the Metro Market vicinity. More later. 12:17 PM UPDATE: A few more details from Lt. Steve Paulsen at the Southwest Precinct, who confirms the arrests and promises more info later:
We just arrested 2 burglary suspects ..They were 3 all together, one got away….tied to two burglaries in the Admiral neighborhood. Great work by all. … All juveniles who don’t live in West Seattle.
Listed on 911 log as “fire in single-family residence”; just heard scanner traffic describing it as “exterior house fire.” Thanks to Todd for the tip. Off to check it out. Map here. 8:58 PM UPDATE: Our person at the scene says it’s no big deal; the fire crews “didn’t even break out the hoses.” However, traffic’s being rerouted – for now, anyway – at 16th/Barton.
Several fire units responded within the hour to the closed Fairmount Park Elementary building – the 911 log just cleared the call and describes it as an “automatic fire alarm” call. A neighbor reports, “15 minutes of watching two trucks full of firefighters try to carefully remove door hinges. Then the school district key holder shows up and they open the door the old-fashioned way. Only smell of anything was the diesel from the fire trucks.” (FP closed after last school year; the district is holding it as “inventory” for possible future use rather than putting it up for sale.)
Another crash on 35th — this time blocking the outside northbound lane between Dawson and Hudson (map). At least one person is hurt and is being put on a stretcher. No other info but it’s worth avoiding that area for a while if you can. (Photo above added 7:13 pm; we don’t have any details on what caused the crash. Trivia point, the fire truck seen in our photo is the same one we photographed at the James Apartments fire earlier today – busy day for Ladder 11.)
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