Seattle homicide detectives are sorting through a continuing stream of new tips and possible suspect vehicle sightings as the hunt for Yancy Noll’s killer continues.
“We’re certain someone know whose car it is,” SPD’s Sean Whitcomb tells CHS. “It’s just a matter of getting the information.”
Aided by a “lucky break” in surveillance footage from security at a nearby reservoir that captured the suspect’s BMW convertible as it drove away, Whitcomb says detectives are following up on information from witnesses and tips that continue to come in.
Noll, a 43-year-old Capitol Hill wine steward, was shot and killed Friday at a North Seattle intersection. Police have said they believe the shooting was a road rage incident but have revealed few details of what is known about the moments before the shooting just a few blocks from Noll’s apartment.
Preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect pulled up next to the victim in his car and for reasons that may be related to a road rage type of incident, fired multiple rounds at the victim, striking him several times. The suspect then fled the scene in his car and remains at large.
The suspect vehicle is described as a silver BMW Z4 convertible. The car may have recent body damage including a broken out passenger side window.
Several witnesses describe the suspect as a well-dressed White or Asian male in his late 20′s to 30′s with dark, slicked-back hair.
Detectives have obtained surveillance photos and video of the car driven by the suspect in a fatal road rage shooting in the Roosevelt neighborhood on September 1st:
Police believe the suspect in the shooting was driving a silver BMW Z4 convertible, with recent body damage and a broken out passenger side window.The suspect’s car looks similar to this one:
If you have information about this case, please call the Seattle Police Homicide Tip Line at (206) 233-5000.
With a specific vehicle description involved so early in the case, sightings of similar cars are frequently being reported. SPD won’t say exactly how many tips they’ve fielded at this point, but you can get a sense of the flow of sightings and investigations being handled by SPD by looking at the data provided through the Seattle “911 Incident Responses Map” — homicide icons indicate locations where police were called for situations related to homicide investigations.
9/3/2012 10:27:00 PM
HOMICIDE
CAD Event Number: 12000296508I5 / S MICHIGAN STFinal Call Type Category: HOMICIDE
9/4/2012 1:22:00 PM
HOMICIDE
CAD Event Number: 1200029721516 AV E / E THOMAS STFinal Call Type Category: HOMICIDE
9/4/2012 9:12:00 AM
HOMICIDE
CAD Event Number: 1200029695065XX BLOCK OF 40TH AVE NEFinal Call Type Category: HOMICIDE
9/3/2012 8:53:00 PM
HOMICIDE
CAD Event Number: 12000296398NE 75 ST / 15 AV NEFinal Call Type Category: HOMICIDE
9/3/2012 5:12:00 PM
HOMICIDE
CAD Event Number: 1200029618224 AV NW / NW 56 STFinal Call Type Category: HOMICIDE
The 911 calls are just part of the equation as calls also continue to come into the SPD tip line at (206) 233-5000. Whitcomb said many calls and tips don’t bear fruit but that some have provided very good information. If you have anything to add, you’re urged to call, too.
Keep up the vigilance, friends. And if you know the owner: turn him in.
Is there anything more about the person driving? Short or tall (in seat of car? Chubby or thin face? Sunglasses? And are they sure it was a Z4? Could it be any other model?
Linked to in comments on another post, this car buff site says the car is likely a “03-08 BMW z4 with black cloth top. E85”
http://jalopnik.com/5940381/
My gut instinct tells me to check the Eastside for the suspect.
It’s just a matter of time.
Anyone have any info about where Yancy was headed when it happened? And from where did he leave? Was he coming home North after leaving Capitol Hill QFC or other location? Any details about where the “road rage” began (not the actual shooting…or did it basically begin and end in same general vicinity)? Or even the duration before shooting began?
Please direct me to any links…can find very little.
Thanks!
I am but a random person on the internet, but if the police are correct and that is surveillance video from after the shooting, then it appears that the driver headed south of 15th ave. The two N/S aves that border the reservoir are 12th and 15th, and 12th is a one-way heading north, so the BMW driver could not have turned onto it from 75th. The police say the shooting happened at 75th and 15th, so they were either traveling south on 15th, E/W on 75th (east if I had to guess, since it would be easier for the driver to turn right onto 15th than left). This is all just guessing, though. Maybe someone who saw it can fill in some more details.
I wonder if there is any connection…
http://news.yahoo.com/video/seattleking5-15751314/man-shot-a
Sleuth: Here’s a memorial page, which has some information:
https://www.facebook.com/YancyNollMemorialPage
Also, I don’t know if he was headed straight home or not, but he left QFC. I spoke with him just a couple hours earlier. :'(
Strange coincidence that it was also a silver BMW. Anyone have more info on this one that would tell us what model of BMW?
This is great work everyone- “sdb” please call your tip in it is very perceptive – All please keep sharing on facebook as much as possible so we can bring this coward to justice. It is only a matter of time until someone talks or cracks-I am guessing there was more than 1 occupant in the Z4, as there was in the possibly related incident in July. I watched this video again tonight and i is clearly apparent that the Z4 is Accelerating Away from the SUV. Calling this in to tip line now. Thank You All. RIP Yancy
I am so sorry to Yancy’s family and friends for your horrific loss.
I lost a friend to a random murder on a Seattle street myself once. Know that SPD has an excellent track record of solving homicides. It took them about 3 weeks to make an arrest in our case. We felt frustrated during those weeks. There were also some false hopes – persons of interest that didn’t pan out. The closest family members were told little, but reassured that the entire homicide division was working tirelessly to solve the case. The thing is, detectives keep a lot of info close to their chests as they follow several leads at once, don’t want to tip off suspects as evidence is being gathered, etc. I also learned that detectives don’t troll the related media articles for comments or clues (or even ideas) – You have to call them in.
Don’t assume that the police have already thought of an idea to pursue. If you have a creative idea, call it in. For example, someone mentioned other surveillance footage from the route like from a nearby gas station, etc. Or the freeway on/off ramps. Don’t assume investigators have looked at these. If you are close to the investigation, bring this up to detectives.
When you are distributing flyers to businesses in the Maple Leaf hood where this happened, talk with the people behind the counter. Ask them if police have talked with them. They need to be asked, prodded, have you seen a car like this? Has a man driving a car like this come in here? On a Friday evening, this guy was likely on a regular commute route so it is possible that nearby businesses know that car.
Keep this in the news! Seems like the Labor Day weekend lessened the coverage of this shooting. I’ve talked with people who didn’t know anything about it. Urge everyone you know on twitter to post the crime stoppers poster as an image – so many people use twitter as their news filter now. Give a flyer to your metro bus driver and ask them to call in sightings of the car. Keep an eye on Craigslist postings for someone trying to sell this car, and not in Seattle – look at cities throughout the West (I think you can set up email alert notifications for keywords like BMW).
I remember people would tell me “If a homicide isn’t solved within 48 hours the chances of solving the murder are low” and that just isn’t true anymore. Not with surveillance cameras and the internet. We have much more power to help solve crimes now that we didn’t have before. And whoever did this was impulsive and arrogant, so they’ll slip up.
Thank you
He was just a a few blocks from his house less than half an hour after clocking out.
Logic seems to indicate that its probably not the first time dude drove down that road, so can they look at survelleince for the weekend prior to see if they spot the car then? Maybe they can glean more info.