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Sunday afternoon driveby rattles Central District — UPDATE

Neighbors and families are wondering when city officials will speak up and do more about ongoing incidents of gun violence after a driveby shooting rattled nerves and sent kids scrambling Sunday during a soccer game at Garfield High School and as many took part in MLK Day weekend events and activities in the area.

Teams and parents fled the field as 911 callers reported a round of gunshots from a car speeding away on 23rd Ave just south of the high school around noon Sunday. There were no reported injuries but responding officers found shell casings across a block of Alder between 24th and 23rd Ave.

Witnesses reported the shooter as a passenger in a grey sedan last seen southbound on 23rd Ave. There was also a reported male fleeing the area on foot during the gunfire. Police got information on a partial license plate from the car from witnesses but were not able to immediately track down the vehicle. There were no arrests.

The gunfire follows the shooting death of a 24-year-old South Seattle man last weekend in a Capitol Hill parking lot and ongoing bursts of gun violence in the area like this September shootout at 21st and Union.

Early Saturday, 911 callers also reported hearing around three shots near Broadway following a disturbance involving a gun near 10th and John. There were no reported injuries and no arrests.

Sunday, neighbors and residents in the Central District took to social media after official outlets like the Seattle Police and Mayor Jenny Durkan’s accounts were silent about the Sunday gunfire.

UPDATE 1/22/19 2:20 PM: Seattle Police have posted a brief on the incident and say that the suspect vehicle was recovered later in the day and is being processed for evidence:

Police are investigating reports of an attempted shooting in the Central District on Sunday. Just before noon, police received numerous 911 calls about gunfire near 24th Avenue and East Alder Street. Officers arrived and learned from witnesses that a man had had fired shots out of the passenger side window of a gray Cadillac, which sped away from the scene. The gunman was reportedly targeting another man, who fled on foot to a silver sedan, which also fled the area. No one was injured in the incident, but two vehicles parked in the area sustained damage. Officers later located the suspects’ Cadillac, which was then occupied by two women, who were interviewed by Gang Unit detectives and released as police continue to investigate.

 

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Neighbor
Neighbor
5 years ago

There is nothing about this scenario that is new. Daytime shootings are de rigeur in this neighborhood. I’ve personally watched someone fire a handgun from my driveway, had two people shot to death within one block in broad daylight, and been assaulted at gunpoint on my own front stairs, all before 9pm, most before 4pm.

It’s time to cut the pretense and increase police presence in the neighborhood. I’m increasingly anxious about the number of people with strollers and small children in the neighborhood who appear to have no idea of the dangers.

LandrewS
LandrewS
5 years ago

Thanks, civil libertarians and paranoid privacy nuts for slowing and stopping gunshot detection technology from being deployed in Seattle. Because, of course, murderous drug gangs armed with AR-15’s deserve privacy, too

Crazy NRA gun nut policies are killing children and teens in America. ACLU nuts are aiding and abetting this bloodshed.

When people throw up their hands and say “what can we do to end gun violence?” Step one: stop listening to libertarian ideologues from the far left and the far right, and let common sense prevail from time to time. Especially at times when lives are on the line.

southsound22@hotmail.com
5 years ago
Reply to  LandrewS

There was no gun nut lobby to locate gunshot detection. The technology provided no useful purpose as the crime was already committed. Its not like people fire and stay put. We only have ourselves to blame for some of the violence. I’d say the problem is a product of the following things.

1) Weak prosecution of crimes (we somehow think around here that everyone is nice and deserves leniency in every case).

2) Recent court decisions have made it very difficult for Police Officers in the field to scoop weapons off of people (vehicle searches after arrest, lunge areas in homes, etc…)

3) A Police Department that has (by design) been crafted to be very reactive instead of proactive. Officers in our city have no reason to put their career on the line going after some of these folks. Feelings instead of crimes are policed in this city.