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Police investigate Madison Park shooting — UPDATE

At least one person was injured and taken to the hospital after a shooting Thursday night near the playground in Madison Park.

Seattle Police responded to reports of several shots fired just after 8 PM and reports of at least one person with a gun on foot in the area of the park. Several vehicles were also reported speeding west from the scene.

UPDATE 10:52 AM: SPD has posted a brief on the shooting and says a 27-year-old woman at a barbecue with friends suffered a gunshot to the calf:

Gang Unit detectives are conducting the investigation following a shooting that occurred Thursday night in Madison Park. A 27-year-old female was struck in the calf and is being treated at Harborview Medical Center for a non life-threatening injury. Shortly after 8:00 PM, officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of 42nd Avenue East and East Madison Street. Officers arrived and located a number of people fleeing the park. Witnesses told officers that an argument between people in the park escalated and that shots were fired. As officers were investigating they learned that a 27-year-old female had arrived at the hospital after being driven there in a personal vehicle. Detectives were able to interview the victim at the hospital. The victim told investigators that she was in the park with a group of other people celebrating when she heard shots and then felt pain to her calf. A friend then drove her to the hospital. Witnesses would not say if the shots were fired from a moving vehicle or if the suspect was on foot. Gang detectives continue to investigate.

Arriving officers found shell casings near 43rd and Madison and blood in the park but no victim, according to East Precinct radio updates.

A shooting victim was reported dropped off at Harborview with non-life threatening injuries about 20 minutes later.

Gang detectives were called to the scene and witnesses were being interviewed at Harborview.

The shooting follows a spate of deadly gun violence on Capitol Hill around the occupied protest zone that led Mayor Jenny Durkan to order the camp cleared.

UPDATE 11:05 PM: Police were also headed to Harborview around 11 PM for a report of a possible victim being transported after a shooting in South Seattle.

UPDATE 11:15 PM: Police were also called back to the Madison Park area after a 911 caller reported her husband had discharged his firearm because of a group near their home. SPD was responding.

UPDATE 7/10/2020 11:55 PM: Seattle Police say the second shots fired incident happened after residents in a home along Lake Washington called 911 just after 11 PM:

Police arrived and found a strange scene along Lake Washington Blvd:

According to the house residents, homeowner fired off three shots after an unknown man came onto their property as they tried to secure their house:

Police found that the house numbers at the head of the home’s driveway had also been broken causing around $300 in damage.

The man police found with the tree barrier on Lake Washington Blvd was taken into custody for investigation of trespass and property destruction. The homeowner was not cited, according to the report.

 

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13 Comments
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M Rosenberg
M Rosenberg
3 years ago

Let’s defund the police by 50%! Absolute lunatics running city council right now. We need a referendum to restructure the way elections are run for city council as well as bring in more checks and balances to the council.

TK
TK
3 years ago
Reply to  M Rosenberg

Tell us: what exactly did the police do to stop this shooting from happening?

Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim
3 years ago
Reply to  TK

What, do you seriously think if we take any half the police force (already small by US standards) there won’t be more of these shootings? The whole city will look like the CHOP. Druggy camps everywhere with gangs fighting over sales.

Dre
Dre
3 years ago
Reply to  TK

I’m not sure, but the gang violence is a serious concern. You can’t fix society overnight. Maybe we could end gangs, but they are hiding in plain sight and some groups protect them or at least condone their activity for political and biased reasons.

DougFir
DougFir
3 years ago
Reply to  TK

The SPD brief states that “officers arrived and located a number of people fleeing the park” i.e. because the police entered the scene, the people arguing and shooting ceased their actions and rapidly left. If there were no police available to show up, how much longer would these people have carried on arguing/shooting? 1 min? 5 min? 10 min? How many more victims would there have been in that time? So right there, because the police were around and able to promptly respond, the police DID stop more shooting from happening. I imagine that some would say if funding to the police is diverted to community based programs, then violent crime, such as this, would no longer exist. Maybe it’s possible that violent crime could be reduced thru such means, but there will always be an element of the population that commits violent crime, and in a nation awash with easily-obtainable guns, the police will need to be properly funded in order to respond. That is unless we all walk around armed, trained, and prepared to protect ourselves and other people with deadly force.

AF
AF
3 years ago
Reply to  TK

Excepts police have done nothing about gang violence last five years. Zero shootings solved. Maybe need better people running gang units and a lot stricter gun control laws.

RWK
RWK
3 years ago
Reply to  TK

@AF: The police try hard to solve violent crime. But they are severely hampered by the “no-snitch” ethic among gang members.

csy
csy
3 years ago
Reply to  TK

Okay, so let’s imagine there’s no police. Who then stops these shootings? And how?

Seattle Neighbor
Seattle Neighbor
3 years ago

Twitter post is misleading. The gang unit always shows up when there is gang violence. Racially loaded terms.

Seattle Neighbor
Seattle Neighbor
3 years ago

Uggh, typing too fast. Gang unit shows up when there is gun violence. Gang is a racially charged term and not appropriate to be used by the officer, nor amplified.

Dre
Dre
3 years ago

I’m trying to understand, do you mean to say that gangs are organized through racial association as opposed to drugs and other illicit activity?

Bob Ross
Bob Ross
3 years ago

All I know is that I heard 20 shots. Two different guns used. They had different sounds and came from different directions. About 15 individuals fled the seen(as quick as they could). Nearly hitting people and dogs that were on cross walks. All wear African American and we’re all wearing red. Now I don’t know much about gangs but that seems like a clear sign. Cops didn’t show for 7minutes. Everyone was long gone. The vehicles I witnessed racing away: old gold four door Buick, 2000s silver/brown Impala, grey Dodge Journey, black Tahoe SUV, etc etc. all drove out of here so reckless. Happy no one was killed on the street with them fleeing the seen like that.

Renee
Renee
3 years ago

for context re: violent crime in Seattle and time police spend on same: Percentage of Calls for Violent Crime
Serious violent crimes have made up around 1 percent of all calls for service in these police departments so far this year.
Baltimore
0.9%
Chandler, Ariz.
1.0%
Cincinnati
1.2%
Montgomery County, Md.
0.5%
New Orleans
1.0%
Phoenix
1.8%
Sacramento
1.4%
San Diego
1.0%
Seattle
1.3%
Tucson
0.7%
Calls for service for murders unavailable for Baltimore and Cincinnati; calls for service for rape unavailable for San Diego; Phoenix does not differentiate rapes from other sexual assaults that might not meet the U.C.R. definition of rape.
Source: Police departments’ open data portals By The New York Times