Capitol Hill Seattle has been alerted to an apparent shooting near the intersection of Union and Boylston. At 5:55 PM, emergency units were dispatched to 702 E Union St. for an assault with weapons response.

We received the following e-mail from an eyewitness:

Shooting on Union between Boylston and Harvard. One guy shot, was conscious and speaking when police arrived.

More as we get it.

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A purse snatcher tried to ruin this man's Halloween by snagging his bag from his gorilla-suited paws. All the thief made off with was the man's car keys. Props to the gorilla for finishing his night of fun before going to the fuzz.

The gorilla did it! Sorry for the error!

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill was the site of one of *two* unrelated bleach attacks in the city. More from our partner site, SeattleCrime.com:

On October 31st, 10:30 a.m. a man walked in to Duvall's apartment building on 10th Ave E and E Roy inquiring about renting an apartment. Duvall, prosecutors say, approached the man and threw a coffee mug full of bleach in the man's face

Five hours later, court records say Duvall, 40, approached a woman on 10th Avenue E and E Roy carrying two yellow tumblers. As he passed the woman, records say, he turned and threw bleach into the woman's face. Moments later, Duvall approached another man riding his bike on Roy Street and threw a cup of bleach in his face, and ran back into his building. Duvall's neighbors identified him to police, who took him in to custody.

SeattleCrime is the project of former Stranger reporter Jonah Spangenthal-Lee. In addition to the occasional crime news of the weird (see above), Jonah has been adding great reporting to the citywide coverage of the Tim Brenton murder investigation.

In addition to quality local journalism, SeattleCrime also has some pretty cool bells and whistles that we continue to work on. You'll be seeing more of these tools in our CHS crime reporting.

The SeattleCrime Map is especially useful. We're mapping 911 callouts, Central District News scanner reports and police reports from across the city. We're still refining and fixing things like enabling permalinks but it's already a pretty interesting tool. You can use it to drill down on any area in the city to see what from the crime files has been happening lately. Here's a view of recent automobile-related theft on Capitol Hill. Can't show you the trend yet -- but take my word for it, there's been a bump in the last few weeks with a mini-outbreak between Broadway and I-5 shores.

Welcome Jonah and his team to the Seattle Internet. Oh, and don't forget to remove your valuables from your car.

Here is the latest batch of reports from the East Precinct for the first weeks of November. We also recently reported on the rash of car break-ins plaguing the area with a map of Hill car prowl hotspots.

We have created a new section in our forums for community Crime Reports if you see something or have something happen to you that you think the Hill needs to know about.

• 6-string thief: Sometime early this month, a person kicked in the door of a practice studio at 11th Ave's Chop House and took a 1970 Gibson L6S electric guitar. According to the very detailed report, the guitar has a natural wood finish with a custom Humbucker pickup installed near the bridge along with a custom three-way switch.
• Wrongfully accused man attacks with umbrella: A man was detained after struggling with a police officer outside of the Harvard QFC following an incident involving the man and QFC security. Late on Friday, Novemeber 6, store security believed the man had stolen a can of beer from the store but the follow-up investigation by the police officer determined that the man had the can of beer in his pocket prior to entering the store but became angry when he was accused and began assaulting people with his umbrella. The man was released following an interview at East Precinct.

More about the L6S from VintageGuitars.org.uk


• Two-TV burglary: On Monday, November 2 around 10 AM, a man was spotted leaving a house and walking down E. Republican near 21st Ave carrying a TV under each arm to load into his car. A neighbor called police but the man was gone by the time the officer arrived. The officer found a basement window that had been broken out giving the burglar access to the house. No suspect description was provided in the report.
• Leash law: A man entered a 10th Ave E doctor's office on November 4th and threatened staff saying, "I'll punch you in the head." He had also been observed trying to tackle people and standing in the street stopping traffic kicking at cars and trying to knock over a motorcycle. The man eventually left the office after somebody inside brought their dog out for protection. When the officer arrived, the man was shirtless, on his hands and knees and growling at the dog. The man was taken into custody and booked into King County Jail for assault (12A.06.010), Pedestrian Interference (12A.12.015), Harassment 12A.06.040, and Criminal Trespass 1st (12A.08.040.B).
• Bad drugs: Late on Sunday, November 1, a man reported being assaulted after "trying to buy weed" near Volunteer Park at 17th and Republican. The man had contusions and swelling on both sides of face. He was also extremely inebriated, according to the report. He could not describe his attacker beyond identifying him as the man he was trying to buy drugs from due to his condition.
• E. Olive burglary: A burglary of a home in the 700 block of E. Olive Way netted $2,300 in ill-gotten goods on November 4.
• 3-car haul on Summit: A break-in at a residential parking garage in the 1600 block of Summit Ave netted the thief two prowled automobiles and a stolen 2008 VW Beetle used as a getaway mobile. There were no witnesses and no suspect has yet been identified, according to the report.
• Liberty theft: Finally, cleaning up with one from October we missed. A man can be seen on security video footage walking behind the bar at 15th Ave's Liberty and grabbing cash early in the morning of October 27. Staff at the bar said that $160 in tips and another $120 in cash from a wallet was stolen by the man who is described as a black male, 5'5", 130 pounds with "three days of facial hair growth, with short black hair, a pierced left eyebrow, and a pierced tongue with a blue ring in it," according to the report. The report says a staff member told officers the man said he was "from the Central District area of Seattle, had been born at University Hospital, and had a sister named [redacted] who was a stripper."

We won't have stats from East Precinct for months but, trust us, we're seeing a lot of car break-ins in the police reports for Capitol Hill. What we do have are anecdotes like this from neighbor Phobia in the CHS Classifieds:

I am trying to help my friend who was a victim of auto crime. Her car got broken into last night, Nov. 13, at the corner of Union and 11th. She lost her Coach tote bag with some important documents and a hard drive inside. All she wants are the things that have very little value to anyone. If you are out there, please take the cash and the bag but please send all other things back to her. I know it's really rare that a criminal would read a neighborhood blog, but I don't have other ideas. Thank you

The chances are very slim that Phobia's friend will get her stuff back but the incident can do some good. You can take a lesson from this and make sure you remove anything and everything of value -- and, really, everything -- from your car.

While we don't have the stats, we do have a powerful new tool we're continuing to build on at our partner site SeattleCrime.com.

Here's a map of the last 30-days of reported car prowls in the Capitol Hill area.

Click for latest map

Locations are approximate -- we only get block locations from SPD -- but you can see the Hill hot spots. And, of course, for every prowl reported, there are probably three that somebody didn't bother to call in.

So, time to clean up your car. Here's a comment from neighbor Lolalaptop to inspire:

Rash of car break ins in my neighborhood

I am sorry to hear that your friend lost her valuables.

My car was broken into a few weeks ago, 13th and Mercer, and thankfully nothing of value was taken, but the interior had been thoroughly torn apart in what was probably a quick, expert manner. I posted a note about it in my building, and learned that the same had happened up and down the block to many, many cars.

Yes, there were visible bags (of paper to recycle, nothing of value!) in my car that may have led them to bother breaking into my car.

Lesson learned: my car is now fastidiously empty and will remain so. People are desperate and while you can't stop them from breaking into your car, you can lessen the probability that they'll bother with your car by keeping it visibly empty.

Three days after police shot and arrested Christopher J Monfort for allegedly murdering officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween, police appear to know who did it, how the attack was carried out, where Monfort spent his days leading up to and after the shooting, and when his plans started to take shape. But it still appears that police don’t know precisely why it happened.

At a press conference at SPD headquarters this afternoon, the department released a flurry of information about their suspect, and showed a video of the last known encounter between Seattle police and Christopher Monfort, two weeks before he allegedly pulled up alongside of Officer Brenton and Officer Britt Sweeney’s patrol car on Halloween, and opened fire.

In the video, recorded on a patrol car dash cam, police follow Monfort—driving a green Crown Victoria, possibly a decommissioned law enforcement vehicle—through the Central District on October 15th, a half-dozen blocks from where Officer Brenton was shot and killed...

Here is an eyewitness account from a woman who says she and her child were within 15 feet of the victim in Friday night's E. Union shooting. She describes the moment the victim was shot and his struggle to get back on his feet before falling back to the pavement. We're re-posting the report but are redacting her name and her family members' first names even though she posted the information publicly. We are also not linking to the page where she posted this information.

So Fri night, the night before my birthday, I was walking to the store at about 6 pm to meet [redacted] and get some groceries. I made it out of my house a couple of blocks, with [redacted] in the stroller. when all of a sudden, about 10-15 feet in front of us, we saw someone get shot 4-5 times point blank, and then a black car drove off very fast.

The guy that was shot fell to the ground, and got up and then fell down again. Some other people were near me on the sidewalk and they went to help the guy. I headed straight back for home as quickly as possible to get jameson safe since some psycho shooter was driving around the neighborhood.

I call the police and told them what i saw as i was going home. they said they would send a medic, and i heard a ton of sirens. i also kept telling people who were walking that way to look out because someone was just shot. I didnt know if the shooter was going to come back again or not.

As I was sitting at home waiting for my fiance to get home, I saw helicopters above our apt building looking down on the crime scene. then i saw a short piece about the shooting on the news. The police called me and asked if they could come over and talk to me about what happened. When they got here, they said they think it might end up being a homicide, the guy was in bad shape when he was sent to harborview hospital i guess.

I am not sure if he lived or not...the police said they will probably want me to come in and do a written statement, and a taped statement. Oh the joys of being a good citizen :-P Hope I dont have to go in... And I really hope the guy didnt die...

Im so glad [redacted] and I are ok, and Im so glad I didnt leave the house a few seconds sooner, or we would have been in the range of bullets...

[redacted]~

The victim was taken to Harborview with life-threatening injuries. There has been no update on his condition. Police are still looking for the suspected shooter. He is described as a white male driving a black, late model Mercedes Benz. He was wearing a red shirt at the time of the shooting. Anybody with information is encouraged to call 911.

The man who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to likely spend the rest of his life in prison for stabbing Capitol Hill resident Shannon Harps to death now claims he was coerced to confess to the murder, CHS partner SeattleCrime.com has learned:

James Anthony Williams, who received a 35 year sentence for the the brutal slaying of Shannon Harps outside of her Capitol Hill apartment on New Years Eve in 2007, is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and is asking the court to provide him with new legal counsel.

Williams on the day of his May 2009 sentencing (Photo: chrisdaniels5)

In court documents filed in King County Superior Court earlier this month, Williams claims he was "compelled...to plead guilty." While documents show Williams apparently believed he was in physical danger while in jail, prosecutors—who, naturally, are opposing Williams' motion—contend Williams made numerous declarations of his own guilt, prior to entering his plea.

SeattleCrime.com reports that prosecutors are citing multiple statements by Williams "that his plea was solely motivated by the fact that he was guilty" in their response to the claims.

Williams originally pleaded not guilty to the crime in February of 2008 and his mental competency was questioned. But after treatment at mental health facility Western State Hospital, Williams was determined fit to stand trial. The defendant then pleaded guilty and was subsequently sentenced to 35 years in prison. This is what prosecutors told CHS at the time of the sentencing about Williams' decision to plead guilty:

[Williams] pled as charged after our office worked to have him restored to competency to stand trial for the murder by sending him to Western State Hospital. He pled not guilty at arraignment in 2008 because every criminal defendant will enter a not guilty plea in order to consult with their attorney, discuss the various options they have and then chose either to plead, negotiate or fight the charge by gong to trial. Mr. Williams at first did not appear competent. The court sent him to Western State Hospital for evaluation at the request of the state and defense. He was found initially not-competent and then Western State doctors restored his competency. Mr. Williams returned to court and indicated he wanted to plead guilty as charged, which he did.

SeattleCrime.com reports that, along with his claims of a coerced confession, Williams also says his attorneys did not adequately represent him during trial and has requested new counsel.

Williams was convicted of murdering Harps in a bloody attack as the 31-year-old was about to enter her residence near 15th and Howell on the last night of 2007.

CHS received this warning tonight in an e-mail forwarded to us from the Madrona Moms mailing list:

just want to give a heads up, one of my friends was mugged at Pine between 23 and 24th just two nights ago. copys say it's been a string of muggings in the area. a group of teenage boys and one girl hide in the bushes and then knock down the victim.

We'll see what we can find out about the report of a 'string of muggings'  -- did find this incident at the end of September in which a pizza delivery employee was robbed near the location of this report.