A video of a shootout that fortunately left no victims in its wake at a Central District gun violence trouble spot Friday night went viral — but social media and the Seattle Police were quiet about another shooting in the neighborhood an hour earlier that sent two people to Harborview including one in critical condition.
According to a review of East Precinct radio broadcasts, police were alerted to the shooting Friday night just after 10 PM when two gunshot wound victims were dropped off at Harborview.
Seattle Fire units weren’t called to the shooting scene at 27th and Jefferson about two blocks from Garfield High School and it is not clear when SPD officers arrived to collect evidence.
The victims were taken to the hospital by private vehicle. In a brief posted this week, SPD reported one victim was in serious condition and rushed into surgery while the other victim was in stable condition.
Just over an hour later that night, the shootout caught on video at 21st and Union broke out. It is not known if the incidents were related.
The Central District shootings were part of a deadly weekend of gun violence around the city including a homicide at Alki Beach and another Friday night downtown.
Seattle Police reported both of those deadly shootings via its SPD Blotter blog but, despite the injuries, the department did not post an update on the 27th and Jefferson incident.
The spring has seen a wave of gun violence across the East Precinct including the murder of two brothers on Nagle Place where a community group blames a drug market operating around Cal Anderson for violence in the area.
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The vast majority of Central District a peaceful people who care about their neighborhoods – they deserve better. Seems like these shootings are often by people from outside the neighborhood and are preceded by shouting and fighting – you can see that in the video referenced here, and you might have seen it yourself. I used to ignore these fights, but no more – when I see people verbally fighting outdoors now, I’m going to assume it will escalate to something worse and call the police. I urge others to do the same.
There has been these kinds of shootings since the 1990s. I had a friend who used to live off MLK, and it was worse than today, but it seems like it’s getting bad again. It seems like the entire city is taking two steps back. I do hope things turn around, but I am finally going to move fulltime to the “sterile” Eastside due to my commute to my job. There is crime and homelessness there, but it nothing like it is here.
To be clear, there was nothing special about the CD last Friday compared to the rest of the city. This stuff is pretty wide-spread, sadly.
https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2023/05/12/friday-may-12-2023/
The reported location is slightly inaccurate. This shooting was next to Powell Barnett on Jefferson between 28th and 29th Ave. And this wasn’t a small incident — 60 shots were fired from multiple guns from both ends of the block.