Seattle Police homicide detectives are investigating a fatal shooting after a man was found with a gunshot wound to the chest on Capitol Hill late Tuesday night. Witnesses told police they saw a vehicle leaving the area but no description of the vehicle has been officially released by SPD.
On 1/17/11, at approximately 11:16 p.m., officers responded to the 1700 block of Harvard Ave to a report of shots fired. While officers were enroute to the call, dispatch advised that a man was down on the sidewalk.
Officers arrived and found a man (in his 40’s) down on the sidewalk with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Officers attempted to resuscitate the victim but their efforts were not successful. Seattle Fire responded and pronounced the victim dead.
Homicide Detectives responded and processed the scene. Officers and detectives canvassed the area for possible witnesses and or suspect(s). There is no suspect information available at this time.
Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the identity or whereabouts of the suspect is asked to call 911 or the Seattle Police Homicide Tip Line at (206) 233-5000. Anonymous tips are welcome.
This is an open and active case.
CHS received several reports from people who heard gunfire in the area. The location is directly behind Capitol Hill’s Seattle Central Community College.
Investigators remained on the scene collecting evidence for hours after the incident despite freezing temperatures as the city awaited possibly significant snowfall predicted for the morning.
The death marked the first homicide on Capitol Hill in 2012.
1/17/12 perhaps…
I live on this block. Wtf is going on lately? Shooting, stabbings, robbery.
I thought CapHill was a safe place to live. Not so much now.
Reminds me more of Belltown than anything…
Perhaps a move to SLU is in order.
re: typo, are you talking about the timestamp on the post? It was made on 1/18
Sorry….typo was on the year, not the date.
Plus, for what it’s worth. I love our community, I’m just worried about the seeming up-tick in violent crime as of late.
Oh, I missed that. SPD will hopefully have better luck with the evidence.
so sad.
i was shot.
:-/
Hey BB, I was just about to work that in up top. Hope all is well.
The DOB and sex that I heard on the police scanner feed didn’t match this at all. How odd.
They did say that they were searching for an all white Crown Victoria, with all wood or dark brown interior and that it looked like an “old style” police cruiser. They had apprehended a suspect around 12:15. Same car, had a 9mm pistol. If that wasn’t actually the shooter, then it might be wise to keep a look out for that car and report anything to SPD. (This is all unofficial though, of course, and was just fulled off the feed when it was coming through.)
This whole thing makes me sad. Also, yes, the fact that BusBetch was shot near here in October. It’s not fun looking out the window to see a crime scene, or even just a police cruiser with lights on on a weekly basis now….
I’ve got a feeling that this was another robbery gone wrong. Why why why do people not get how effing incredibly dangerous handguns are? Why do people just not care when it comes to killing someone over something so petty? Our species can be pretty disgusting sometimes….
the area behind sccc has been sketchy for awhile.
i’ve seen prostitutes meet their client on broadway and take them back behind the school and other questionable activities.
i wonder why sccc hasn’t set up camera back there?
Really? I would have pointed to the blocks of Harvard, Boylston and Belmont between Pike and Pine as being sketchy, and the whole intersection of Pike and Harvard, I’ll thrown in the Boylston side of the SCCC parking garage — but not along SCCC. Maybe it’s the times of day I’m walking past. I will add that there are more blocks by Redwood that are incredibly sketchy.
A look at the “my neighborhood” SPD site is sobering for the area between SCCC and the freeway. Narcotics, assault, trespass, theft, auto breakin, two warrants served, other madness in the 24 hours leading up to the shooting.
I was barely 100 feet from the shooting in an apartment building and heard it happen. It was terrifying.
Regardless of the circumstances (which I do not yet know), someone was killed a block from my apt a mere few months after someone was shot on my block.
It seems like there’s a definite uptick in robberies and muggings in the area. I’ve contemplated parenting recently and hate that I’m concerned about whether or not to do it in the area that I’ve called home for the last eight years. As neighbors, aside from being vigilant and reporting suspicious activity when we see it, I’m torn about what we can do. Any ideas? Suggestions?
I was surprised to hear someone say Cap Hill was a “safe place to live.” I’ve always considered it one of the more dangerous neighborhoods of the city. I’ve been mugged, and assaulted, the building’s been broken into a number of times. I know a number of others who’ve experienced the same. I remember once watching as a gang broke into cars across the street, calling 911, and when I reported it, they asked if I had a license # for the folks who were breaking in (they were going down the street in a car), and when I said I didn’t they hung up on me!
Granted it did seem in the ’80s it was bad, got better in the ’90s, and is now going back up again. In the ’80s it didn’t seem like there were as many shootings/murders.
But when I hear news like this, I don’t tell me father. He lives close by and I walk over to visit. He insists I leave by 9 pm at night, as he feels it’s too dangerous to be on the streets here after that. So, no need to worry him more (yes, I know this happened after 9 pm, but you know what parents can be like).
I have lived in Capitol Hill for almost nine years and it has never been this bad. My partner and I thinking about leaving our beloved neighborhood because of all the recent violence. This is so sad!
Was at Harvard and Thomas. They had a gun and left in a white sedan. How sad.
I hope they catch the guys.
I was walking to check out that Manhattan Drug on 12th last night around 8:15 (I checked into MD at 8:38pm after being seated), when an all-white Crown Victoria style car nearly hit me pulling out of that covered parking area by the dog groomers/liquor store. Dark interior, 4-5 people in it, and they started to pull out as I was walking past, slowed, then started moving forward again even though I was walking in front and had to scurry out of the way.
If it was the same people, at least they were polite; they shouted out the window “Hey, sorry man”, so I think maybe the driver just hadn’t seen me. And I guess if it was the same people, they almost certainly had just bought something at the liquor store.
Hopefully you told the police about this.
I live 1 block from the shooting, what a shame. What the hell is happening to Capitol Hill.
I live on the Boylston block where BusBetch was (luckily not fatally) shot a few months ago. I even heard the suspect sprint past my ground-floor window. Now a full-out homicide a block away? I don’t know why, but I have a feeling this may have been more than a mugging gone wrong. A shot in the chest seems particularly violent. In BusBetch’s situation (which is one other people I know have been in), the perpetrator tends to place the gun on the victim’s stomach area, which is why the gun wound to the chest stuck out to me when reading this. I hope SPD finds the perpetrator. You’d think they would do more neighborhood patroling. I haven’t seen any.
I have seen cop cars going through slowly, but seemed to be looking for someone rather than patrolling. Only time I’ve seen them out of cars is investigating something.
You can imagine how parents with young children feel.
I live on the same block of Boylston. I see squads drive by with some regularity. A couple of days ago I also saw two bike cops crossing the parking lot at Boylston and Howell in the early evening. That was the first time I’d seen bike cops in this area in years. Still…the crime continues. Patrols are not enough, I’m afraid.
I reported it:
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2011/10/25/blotter-harvard
Anybody know if we have Block Watch in our neighborhood? I am sickened by this latest incident and would be willing to get the SPD to help us get a BW set up.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
I’m ready to do something. Anyone else?
I don’t live on the Hill but am there almost 7 days a week. I now call and report to the police whenever I see anything suspicious. For example two guys in a pickup truck at 3am with flashlights who hauled ass uphill like bats out of hell when they heard me.
I’d love the info on a neighborhood watch even though I live at UW.
Here’s the Block watch info: http://www.seattle.gov/police/prevention/coordinators.htm
(East Pct Coordinator is Francisco Tello)
This and an unused fb page were all I could find: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Capitol-Hill-Block-Watch/21122
Call in that tip.
Please send a note through Justin if you’re setting up a block watch. May need several to cover the area from Pike to Denny and SCCC to I5.
We can ask Phoenix Jones to stop by. Or, we can pray for the return of the Q Patrol.
We do not have a block watch, as far as I know. There has been discussion about starting one many times over the years, but in typical fashion no one has been willing to lead the charge.
I’ve been active in the neighborhood through the now defunct/in hibernation POWHat (Pine-Olive Way-Harvard Area Triangle) pretty much since I moved onto into the ‘hood. We used to meet monthly at the church at Harvard and Howell, but ceased meeting due to lack of involvement and interest. This was also right around the time the Capitol Hill Community Council was revived. The idea was that the CHCC would fill the void. We also used to hold National Night Out block parties (1st Tue. of August) on the 1700 block of Boylston, but that too died on the vine due to lack of involvement.
There is a yahoo group that periodically shares neighborhood-specific information and I encourage you to join and use it. http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/POWHat-news/
I think it’s time to revisit some community-building strategies in this area and welcome your ideas & input. The yahoo group is a great way to communicate about this issue.
I say setup a sting for drug related activities & car prowling activities & house break-ins. The cops need to bait this area with what looks like easy hits for the criminals so they can clear this place from the crime the these criminals are doing. I personally would like to see them all burn in hell.
CALL IN THAT TIP! They can look at video inside the liquor store!!!!!!!!!
I also say we put stings up for the iMuggers as well. However burning in hell isn’t good enough for me. I say we revert back to cutting off people’s hands to teach them that stealing is wrong.
…is why I’m moving in three weeks. Good riddance crime infested Capitol Hill!
Not sure what I’d report; it sounds like they have a suspect in a car matching that description, in possession of a gun. Ballistics would presumably show more than a random “Hey, someone in a similar car pulled out of the 12th ave liquor store at around 8:15 that night and headed south on 12th”. What would they do with that info? Even if they found their suspect on the liquor store footage, that’d only show these people were on the hill that night, hours earlier- which the police presumably know if they picked up a suspect.
Hey, if the police think that’s useful, they can certainly get any liquor store footage or external cam.footage from their own station.
I agree that Belmont, Harvard and Boyleston are bad areas. Basically the Hill from Pike through Republican is a bad area during dark hours. Both QFC stores, the library on Republican and the Presbyterian 99% club attract drug addicts and criminals. Enforce loitering laws at the QFC stores, hygiene at the library and have the church stop any outreach to the oppressed people of Seattle. Some crime will go down.
Ballistics is only useful if you have the gun that fired the shot. To get the gun, you need to know who has it. To know who has it, you need a lead on who was in the area matching the description.
Video footage of someone who could be involved may show someone they recognize off-hand, and can go talk to.
You’re ass-u-ming that the police are reading this post for comments. Why not just call and ask to talk to the detective investigating, let him know this info? You thought it was interesting enough to post to a blog, why is it not interesting enough to tell the police?
Well, it still seems odd to call, but I just left a message saying that if they were looking for a CV, or more information, that I had been walking by the liquor store at 8:15 and had seen a matching car, and maybe they could use the security footage at the liquor store.
Probably nothing, but I guess better that they can look at the security footage if it might be useful.
Thank you for doing that — it can’t hurt. :)
The police (detectives) will take any information they can get. It’s a murder investigation, not a stolen car or vandalism.
how long u gonna milk that? re: u being shot; I mean i thought i read that the female witness/victim told the cops that you were trying to run away when you where shot? and then a couple weeks ago you come out with some deep statement about the incident which i could not even get past the first line cuz you trying to run away leaving the girl behind, left me not wanting to read anymore.
Uh huh, thats interesting….What sort of handguns, and other self defense weapons, are you now considering bringing with you now?
oh silly handguns.. no Bill man i wasn’t running i just turned towards my friend and it saved me from being killed or worse… having a colostomy bag. but anyhow yeah i thought about self defense but as it is I just pay more attention..and as for working it?? whatever.. you get shot and see how long you talk bout it… or better yet how long folks in your life ask about it. but really it sucks that there is so much crime in the olive triangle.
peace.
Hi
So sorry to hear of this tragic event. I used to live at the Petra apt building on Harvard behind SCCC (1703 Harvard Ave) – enjoyed it and moved about 7 years ago for cheaper rent elsewhere. I was involved in forming the Pine-Olive Way-Harvard Avenue Triangle (POWHAT) neighborhood association back in 2001 due to a lot of drug sales and prostitution happening in the area bounded by the streets that form the association’s name. We took action and slowly were able to improve the neighborhood. http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/POWHat-news/
The level of violent crimes – and I consider muggings a violent crime – have skyrocketed in the Broadway and Pike/Pine corridors in the past 3 years – when I lived there it was rare that someone would get mugged, like maybe once a month. Now its like 2 or 3 muggings every week and weekend, some in broad daylight – that’s like 150 incidents a year! That’s unacceptable! Yes, those were “pre-iphone” times when I live there, but still, are these the conditions you want to have in the neighborhood you and your loved ones live in?
I remember when a series of attacks on gays happened around 2006 or so, right after I had moved .. like once or twice a month for 6 months – everybody got freaked out and the community held a big public safety meeting at the Broadway Performance Hall – the place was packed, over 80% full. The meeting had reps from the Chamber, the businesses, the community council, Seattle Police – East Precinct Caption and brass from downtown, and the 2nd in command at the King County Prosecutor’s office, and the city council. People asked questions, got filled in on what anyone did know at the time, and were able to do a gut check with their neighbors about what was happening. The assaults did decrease after a while, and things went back to normal until these escalating muggings started around 2008.
I have been wondering as I watch the endless parade of mugging stories on CHS grow larger and more violent – I have been wondering why Cap Hill residents haven’t gotten freaked out again and held a big meeting to develop an action plan. It’s like the biggest public safety community action in the past year seems to have been this summer about rude homeless people in Cal Anderson Park yelling crazy things to kids near the swing set … right? It’s your neighborhood, you can change what going on with enough collective effort! I started the POWHAT group because two neighbors overheard me talking about the issues back then, and told me if I set up a meeting, they would come to it … I did, and they did along with a dozen other neighbors, and we made a difference.