Police search for suspect after shooting in fight at packed Capitol Hill bar sends one to hospital — UPDATE

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A fight at an E Pike bar ended in a melee leaving one man shot and hospitalized and another on the run early Thursday.

Seattle Police report they are looking for the suspect in the just after midnight shooting that left a 29-year-old with gunshot wounds to his abdomen.

According to SPD and East Precinct radio updates, police were called to reported gunfire at E Pike’s Cha Cha Lounge and found a huge crowd filing out of the E Pike basement bar. Minutes later, a victim with two gunshot wounds to the abdomen was reported several blocks away near Boren and Pike on First Hill.

UPDATE: Cha Cha owner Jeff Ofelt says his management is still working out details of what happened in the shooting but says the gunfire did not happen inside the bar.

UPDATE x2: According to police, a witness reported the suspect was removed from the bar, and retrieved a gun from a nearby vehicle where the assault continued along E Pike.

Continue reading →

SPD: Officer helps pull person in crisis back onto Broadway apartment building rooftop

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A police officer who happened to stop at a Broadway traffic light as a woman struggled to keep her suicidal partner from leaping from a nearby building was able to race to the roof of the five-story apartment complex and help the woman lift the subject back to safety.

The Seattle Police Department reports the incident happened near Broadway and Jefferson just before 8:30 PM Wednesday: Continue reading →

Where to watch Seattle’s 4th of July fireworks from Capitol Hill, USA! 249th birthday yay we’re still a country (so far!) edition

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By The CHS Independence Day Robot

CHS has a long-running tradition of our annual “where to watch fireworks” post, and in 2025, as we mark the 249th birthday of the United States of America and mark the final stages of capitalism, the tradition is now fully automated! Here are this year’s ideas compiled by our AI reporter on where you can walk to watch the fireworks and celebrate with your closest neighborhood patriots without leaving Capitol Hill. America!

The 2025 Lake Union fireworks show, part of the Seafair 4th of July celebration, is planned to begin around 10:15 PM Friday. The show typically lasts 15 to 20 minutes. This year, the show is sponsored by Amazon. Thanks, tech giant neighbors, and way to get that sponsorship in before things go kaput. Who knows if the country makes it to 250.

The prime Capitol Hill-connected viewing zone stretches along our northwest edge above Eastlake along steep streets like Boston and Lynn or some blocks of Harvard Ave E. Lakeview Boulevard E, just north of the Belmont-Eastlake I-5 overpass, is a great, crowded, and fun place to watch. Do not try to park anywhere in the area. You will fail. Continue reading →

Seattle’s newly confirmed police chief set for summer of Safer Seattle Community Forums including D3 where the issues include Pike/Pine disorder, cops in schools, traffic safety, and the First Amendment

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SPD Chief Shon Barnes, left, with Mayor Bruce Harrell, and Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins (Image: City of Seattle)

Tuesday, the city’s new police chief was confirmed by the Seattle City Council. He will spend this summer meeting the neighborhoods his officers patrol.

Chief Shon Barnes was approved by the council Tuesday in a 9-0 vote supporting his initiatives to focus on stabilizing the Seattle Police Department and growing its ranks after tumultuous years coming out of the pandemic and the 2020 protests under former Chief Adrian Diaz.

Barnes is the city’s first Black man to be appointed chief.

In selecting Barnes, Mayor Bruce Harrell chose an outsider to continue efforts to reform and stabilize SPD while also growing alternatives to traditional policing like the city’s new CARE Department crisis responders. The former Madison, Wisconsin chief now leads a force with just over 1,000 sworn officers that just barely reversed a long trend of hiring struggles. The department reports it made 84 successful hires in 2024 — one more officer than it lost.

Part of Barnes’s mission will be restoring goodwill with citizens. The chief will embark on a summer tour of Safer Seattle Community Forums in the city’s seven council districts to share “his vision for Seattle-Centric policing”, provide progress updates, and “engage community in discussions with departments about what public safety means to them and their concerns.” Continue reading →

Suspect in Broadmoor apartment domestic violence police shooting died by suicide

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Investigators say the suspect in a domestic violence shootout with police at an E Madison apartment last month died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The King County Medical Examiner says Daniel Jolliffe, 53, died by suicide.

CHS reported here on the Friday, June 20th shootout and standoff as Jolliffe attacked a woman at the Broadmoor-area apartment complex. The victim was shot in the back and treated at Harborview in serious condition but survived the ordeal. Continue reading →

Seattle hopes permit streamlining will keep light rail expansion on track — West Seattle in 2032, Ballard in 2039

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Mayor Bruce Harrell signed legislation this week hoped to speed up construction of key light rail extensions to West Seattle and Ballard.

The changes are hoped to streamline paperwork and cut permit review times in half for Sound Transit projects.

Harrell issued an executive order calling for the streamlining earlier this year with six areas of coordination hoped to help cut down on delays: Continue reading →

Kamp Social House — Madison Valley’s only lesbian bar — is closing

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(Image: Kamp Social House)

Business tends to work in increments of zeros and fives.

Sometimes there is a three.

Three years after it debuted and five years since a legendary Seattle restaurateur bid his home neighborhood goodbye, Kamp Social House is closing down in Madison Valley.

Its final day of business will be Wednesday.

“This decision comes after much reflection and is rooted in the need to take a personal pause. Kamp has always been more than just a restaurant, it’s been a community hub, a labor of love, and a place where countless memories were made,” the Kamp announcement reads. “We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who supported us along the way, whether you stopped by once or became a familiar face.”

CHS reported here on the 2022 debut of Kamp, a food, drink, and social project from partners in business and live Marceil Van Camp and Katy Knauf. Continue reading →

‘Construction Notice’ — City set to finally add markings and pedestrian lights where it wiped away guerilla Capitol Hill crosswalk three years ago

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Construction notices have been posted. The Seattle Department of Transportation says it is finally adding a crosswalk and flashing pedestrian signal at Harvard and E Olive Way, an intersection so dangerous, a rogue effort added guerilla-style street markings at the crossing three years ago.

The city quickly wiped away the Harvard-Olive Way rogue crosswalk. This summer, it is finally making good on promises to do the crossing right.

CHS reported over a year ago on the continued delay in improving the intersection just west of Broadway. Matt Baume, a neighborhood writer, has been documenting the crashes at E Olive Way and Harvard Ave E for a decade and wrote to D3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth last year to share his concerns after yet another crash, that time involving three cars and several passengers including a family with a small child.

Baume posted news of this summer’s construction notice to the CHS Facebook Group — “Thrilling news about the high-crash intersection where neighbors painted their own crosswalk, only to have the city remove it…” Continue reading →

Scott and Rinck holding ‘Crisis Care Center Townhall’ on Capitol Hill

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The proposed Broadway site

There have been few public updates on the King County Department of Community and Human Services plan to open a mental health Crisis Care Center at Broadway and Union but two Seattle political leaders are collaborating on an event next week on Capitol Hill to raise support for the project.

“7/7 @ 7PM is our chance to lift every voice in support of a behavioral health crisis center that will help the Capitol Hill community and its people,” reads the social media post from Rep. Shaun Scott. “Come ready to have a good time at Vermillion with community leaders who support an inclusive Seattle.”

The Crisis Care Center Townhall will take place Monday night at the 11th Ave art bar and will include Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, according to the flyer.

We have inquiries out to Scott and Rinck to learn more. King County DCHS is also listed as part of the event as is comedian Brett Hamil.

“Drinks + Comedy + Civics,” the pitch reads. Continue reading →

Seattle voters will decide on $1.3B school levy renewal this fall

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The Constellation Center job training academy is expected to open on Capitol Hill in 2027

Mayor Bruce Harrell last week signed legislation that will put the proposed $1.3 billion school levy renewal on the fall ballot.

In November, Seattle voters will weigh in on the increased tax and boosted spending plan for childcare and preschool, K-12 academic supports, and the Seattle Promise program.

$235 million earmarked for school safety investments in the plan has become one center of debate as the city weighs a possible return of Seattle Police officers assigned to campuses. CHS reported here on the proposal to add a “School Engagement Officer” on Garfield High School’s campus as soon as this fall.

A key amendment from Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck calls for focused spending to “guard against the school-to-prison pipeline” by focusing on diversion and social programs but changes by her fellow council members leave room for the return of the SPD School Engagement Officers. Continue reading →