This bullet has been waiting waiting for SPD to pick it up (Image courtesy the Comet)

Capitol Hill business owners have called for more help from the mayor and the Seattle Police Department before in response to nightlife gun violence — but last weekend’s drive-by shooting at 10th and Pike that sent three people to the hospital has one owner asking for SPD to simply investigate the incident.

Jason Lajeunesse says he is grateful nobody else was injured and fortunately nobody was hit inside despite two bullets smashing into the Comet Tavern in the early morning Saturday shooting.

“First off, we are so relieved to report that no one inside the business or staff was injured. That being said, two bullets entered the building, one of which was stopped by our pinball machine and one which ricocheted off a metal sign,” Lajeunesse said.

CHS reported here on the 12:30 AM shooting in which an SUV reportedly sped up E Pike with a shooter firing from inside. Three people on the street outside the Comet were hit and suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries to their lower bodies, police said. The incident was one of a handful of shootings reported in Seattle over the weekend including deadly gun violence on Rainier Ave that left a restaurant owner dead.

Lajeunesse tells CHS that Comet staff located one of the bullets in Saturday’s shooting on the floor behind the pinball machine but that police haven’t seemed interested. According to the bar owner, SPD still hadn’t stopped by to collect the evidence or take additional witness statements from the weekend shooting as of Tuesday.

Shell casings were collected by SPD in the street along E Pike and bullet damage was also reported to other nearby businesses including Poquitos across 10th from the Comet.

Nightlife gun violence has been an ongoing issue up and down the Pike/Pine corridor. The most recent early Saturday morning shooting followed another bout of gun violence the previous weekend that included an altercation that sent a bullet through the window of a bar in lower Pike/Pine late that Saturday night. There were no injuries reported in that incident.

Nightlife gun violence plagued the area last year including a July shooting outside the Mint Lounge that sent one to the hospital. In September, one person was sent to the hospital in a shootout that erupted in the Rancho Bravo parking lot. Late last year, Mayor Bruce Harrell met with Capitol Hill business representatives to discuss neighborhood safety including the spate of shootings.

“Nighttime safety in Capitol Hill remains a priority, which is why Mayor Harrell met with a group of businesses owners from the Pike/Pine corridor in November 2022 to discuss how safety can be improved for the neighborhood’s residents, visitors, businesses and their employees,” a spokesperson for Harrell office said in a statement sent to CHS about the 10th and Pike shooting.

The mayor’s rep tells CHS that “several business owners voiced support for increased law enforcement presence and relationship building with the Seattle Police Department.”

“The mayor’s comprehensive police recruitment and retention plan takes urgent and long-term steps to ensure a well-staffed department responsive to these community needs,” the spokesperson said.

“Shootings like last weekend’s reinforce the need for continued public safety improvements,” the statement from the mayor’s office concludes. “Mayor Harrell will continue to develop and advance safety efforts using input from Capitol Hill’s business owners to address their concerns and work in partnership with them to advance solutions that improve safety in the neighborhood.”

A Seattle Police spokesperson has not responded to CHS’s inquiry about the shooting investigation.

Lajeunesse, who also owns Lost Lake and is part of the ownership of Neumos, says the nightlife district isn’t getting the public safety support it needs from the city.

“We are extremely frustrated with the lack of support our community has been receiving since COVID,” Lajeunesse said. “There is no SPD presence any more. The apathy and lack of accountability from SPD, City Council and the mayor himself is shocking. We are organizing and we want solutions.”

Meanwhile, the folks at the Comet haven’t been able to locate the second bullet shot into the bar.

“There is one more that we have not found yet and we have called to let SPD know we have some evidence that may be useful,” Lajeunesse said.  “Honestly, we don’t know what’s going on or what they are doing.”

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