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Police investigate fatal shooting at Cal Anderson Park — UPDATE

Police and Seattle Fire rushed to Cal Anderson near Nagle Place after a fatal shooting at the park.

Seattle Police says one person was shot in the incident first reported around 9:40 PM Wednesday. According to police radio updates, the victim appeared to have been shot in the back of the head.

UPDATE: Seattle Fire tells CHS the victim, reported as a 21-year-old man, died at the scene before life saving efforts could be attempted.

Police were searching the area including Broadway and nearby Capitol Hill Station for people seen fleeing the scene.

A 911 caller reported hearing one gunshot fired in the incident and seeing a person down near the basketball court according to East Precinct radio dispatches.

Crime in the popular park has been a neighborhood issue over the years that mostly has ebbed and flowed with warmer weather and summer months. Here is a CHS report from 2013 about East Precinct efforts at the time to cut down on crime in the park after a string of incidents and violence.

Wednesday night’s shooting came in a park still busy with activity on an unusually warm first night of spring. A group played with a soccer ball on nearby Bobby Morris field while others walked their dogs or passed through the park. The sports field lights around Bobby Morris and the basketball court were fully illuminated at the time of the shooting.

The incident marked the second night of gun violence on Capitol Hill. Tuesday night, SPD says a suicidal man was shot by police after he fired his gun at officers on Melrose Ave.

The Cal Anderson murder is the second fatal shooting on Capitol Hill this year. In January, 24-year-old Jafar Mack was gunned down in the Harvard Market parking lot above Pike and Broadway in a shooting that remains unsolved by police.

 

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24 Comments
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Seaguy
Seaguy
4 years ago

Gee was it the gang members who congregate near the courts or the tweakers who like to hang out near the restrooms or the tents they’ve illegally pitched along Nagle place?

I'm not the asshole this time.
I'm not the asshole this time.
4 years ago
Reply to  Seaguy

Have you ever tried reddit? It’s way more fun to antagonize people there.

caphillguy
caphillguy
4 years ago

Gettin’ spicy out there.

Stephen
Stephen
4 years ago

Does it matter if the victim turns out be in one of your prescribed labels. Show some respect for the dead. Wow.

My friend helped on the scene while waiting for first responders. People came to help not worrining or asking if they a gang banger or tweaker. The person needed help and they tried. They will always have more humanity then you do. So rude.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  Stephen

Amen. Well said.

KO
KO
4 years ago
Reply to  Stephen

Thank you. Nice to know humanity is alive and vocal in the city.

Kathleen
Kathleen
4 years ago
Reply to  Stephen

Thank you so much. It’s really important to call out off-the-cuff thoughtlessness and remind us of our shared humanity and the tragic loss of life.

southsound22@hotmail.com
4 years ago
Reply to  Kathleen

Yep. Let’s all be enraged by a comment. It’ll make all of us over educated progressives feel better about ourselves because we’re outraged at the right thing. Meanwhile the city rots from within.

Fairly Obvious
Fairly Obvious
4 years ago
Reply to  Kathleen

Yep. Let’s all be enraged by a comment. It’ll make all of us over educated progressives feel better about ourselves because we’re outraged at the right thing.

It’s funny when people use virtue signaling to call out virtue signaling, as if it somehow makes them better.

Meanwhile the city rots from within.

Looks like somebody’s been watching that “Seattle is Dying” special from the well documented Seattle-hating, pro-right wing Sinclair Media! Turn off the misery porn, bro.

Nicholas D
Nicholas D
4 years ago
Reply to  Stephen

This is not a rude statement, yes it could have been a dispute that resulted in death, yes it could have been gang violence, yes it could have been anything. The reality is there is a clear open air drug market in that particular area of the park that seems to get a blind eye to the law. Regardless of the reasons behind what happened gun violence is unacceptable and can be narrowed down to a clearly open air drug market that exists by the basketball court. Increased survalince and habitual law enforcement could decrease the lawlessness that occurs in that particular corner.

123A_D123
123A_D123
4 years ago

I really hope this is a top priority for Seattle Police. It’s totally unacceptable that this type of gun violence is happening in our community. Violence like this usually begets more violence and if this is any indication of how summer will be, they need to do everything they can to keep the park from becoming a hot spot again. 21 years old… just let that sink in.

Rick_WS
Rick_WS
4 years ago
Reply to  123A_D123

I’m sure officers would like to make cleaning up these problems a priority but Seattle city leaders don’t appear to be of the same mind, rather an opposing or vacant mind.

Sloopy
Sloopy
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick_WS

Not much to do anyway – the people that know are not likely to talk to police.

Asking too much?
Asking too much?
4 years ago

If only we had some kind of digital recording technology, similar to that used to catch people who say “block the Box” or use a bus lane, to capture gun-toting murderers in our parks.

Chris
Chris
4 years ago

Getting better. not.

Andrew Taylor
Andrew Taylor
4 years ago

“f only we had some kind of digital recording technology, similar to that used to catch people who say “block the Box” or use a bus lane, to capture gun-toting murderers in our parks.”

Microphones to triangulate the locations of gunshots have been proposed in the past, in the Central Area. Were they ever installed:
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2016/06/gunshot-detection-tech-deployment-being-lined-up-for-central-district/

Deb
Deb
4 years ago

Love this neighborhood..getting scary

southsound22@hotmail.com
4 years ago

Ohhh. The right wing boogie man! That’s it! Keep fiddling while Rome burns.

I may be the most right wing gay guy around…which has lived here since 1983. All that means is I remember when shit was reasonable around here. Not a paranoia, truth ignoring, one trick pony town.

...
...
4 years ago

Gay people with straight politics is Stockholm syndrome.

southsound22@hotmail.com
4 years ago
Reply to  ...

politics is based upon who I love? not ideas? I am to be an intellectual slave because I was born a certain way? Please, tell me more about what I should believe. Life and decisions have brought me to my beliefs. Not who I love and have sex with.

Nicholas D
Nicholas D
4 years ago

Living very close to the park i know that specific area is full of traffickers and usurers. Ignoring this fact will only allow violence like this to continue. Something should be done to prevent these illegal activities from happening in that beautiful park. My condolences to the family of the victim, but something need to be done to make the park a safe place for all to enjoy.

dflt
dflt
4 years ago

Well, apparently in this instance, part of Seattle has died. The fact that we (collectively) allow open air drug sales, and the turf wars that accompany that, is a shame

southsound22@hotmail.com
4 years ago

We have been ignoring drugs for years in this city due to a paranoia concerning holding people accountable for destructive behavior. The chickens are coming home to roost. Just knock on any RV door.

Chavonne
4 years ago

Anything helps. May my cousin Rest In Peace