There were no reported injuries after gunfire in a reported drive-by shooting north of the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park as crowds gathered for the sunny evening and Juneteenth celebrations fled and sought shelter.
According to witness and East Precinct radio reports, gunfire was reported on the north end of the park around 5:30 PM. Multiple callers reported at least five shots and at least one vehicle speeding from the scene. Continue reading
(Image: CHS)
The city has acted quickly to clear the camp of asylum seekers that has filled the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park for the past week.
Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office said Tuesday most of the remaining families had already moved out of the park and that any remaining tents and material were to be cleared by 8 AM Thursday morning:
This morning, about 30-35 people were in the park, including mutual aid workers and other people who are helping to break down tents. Our Unified Care Team posted notice that all individuals will need to leave the park by 8 am this Thursday. UCT will provide anyone still remaining at the site at 8 a.m. on Thursday with the option to store any personal belongings and will conduct a thorough cleaning of the site.
Next will come clean-up and any any needed repairs. “Following resolution, the Parks Department will evaluate the park for environmental and hygienic impacts, cleaning and restoring it as necessary to ensure it is available to the broader community for its intended purpose,” the mayor’s office statement reads. Continue reading
(Image: CHS)
Neighbors, members of the Leschi Community Council, and descendants of the man the park is named for are calling on Mayor Bruce Harrell and the city to act quickly to address health and safety concerns that have grown at the asylum-seeker encampment that formed late last month in the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park.
“How does the city deal with this sort of the emergency?,” Maisha Barnett, granddaughter of Powell S. Barnett asked during a Monday press conference organized to present a call from the community group for the city to provide an immediate response to sanitation and health needs at the park.
“We’re not here to decide whether they need shelter,” Barnett said, trying to put aside larger questions and frustrations that have complicated efforts to help the campers.
The group that spoke Monday is asking the city to act now to bring resources like portable toilets and sinks, better solutions for garbage, and more efforts to coordinate the camp immediately to Powell Barnett while larger questions about immigration and the bureaucratic grind that has created the camp to continue to play out.
UPDATE 4:45 PM: The mayor’s office says it has already started clearing out the camp and is working to remove “families and single adults still remaining. In the statement, the mayor’s office says about 150 people “transitioned from the park and into shelter and housing over the weekend.” The city says it has identified shelter for 40 families from the park. “Following this, we will evaluate the park for environmental and hygienic impacts, cleaning and restoring it as necessary to ensure it is available to the broader community for its intended purpose,” the statement reads.
The Central District’s Powell Barnett has become the latest landing spot for asylum seekers from Congo, Angola, and Venezuela who have been shuttled from temporary camps to county and donor-supported motel rooms and back again while local governments try to sort out more permanent shelter.
Mutual aid groups announced the new camp location as tents were set up Monday in this Central District park along MLK Way. The new camp is a few blocks east of Garfield Community Center where the group briefly set up tents on the campus tennis courts earlier this month in what turned out to be a one-day camp thanks to a private donation securing enough funding to pay for more nights at the Quality Inn in Kent.
With funds again short, organizers say the group needs tents, blankets, and tarps to make the Powell Barnett camp livable. Continue reading
Seattle Police detectives are investigating after two shooting incidents Tuesday night in the Central District with no reported injuries.
The shooting incidents join a string of gun violence in the area including three King County shootings this week that left multiple victims and one Bothell police officer dead.
In one incident Tuesday night at 21st and Union, witnesses said a fight or argument in the street was followed by multiple shots fired. Police reported no injuries in the 6:45 PM gunfire and said four shell casings were recovered on the southwest corner of the intersection, according to East Precinct radio updates. Later around 8 PM, gunfire sent people running and speeding away from Powell Barnett Park along MLK. There were no reported injuries. Continue reading
Seattle Police are investigating after a shootout involving a dispute in the street and multiple vehicles spread shell casings but left no injuries along MLK near the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park Thursday afternoon.
According to East Precinct radio updates, multiple 911 callers reported the gun battle just after 1 PM Thursday near the north end of the park. Continue reading
Gunfire sent visitors at Powell Barnett Park scrambling after a shooting incident at 29th and Alder Friday afternoon.
According to East Precinct radio updates, witnesses reported eight or nine gunshots and multiple cars leaving the area around 2:40 PM near the MLK Jr. Way park.
Arriving police found bullet hole damage to a vehicle just east of 29th and Alder and began investigating the shooting scene.
It’s not clear if there were any injuries. A Seattle Fire dispatch sent aid units to the scene but there was no reported victim information. Police were headed to area hospitals to look for possible victims. UPDATE: SFD says its dispatch was canceled so no victim was found at the scene.
Gang detectives were called to the scene.
After years of hosting the event within walking distance of the precinct’s 12th and Pine headquarters, the Seattle Police Foundation will bring its annual East Precinct picnic to a park in the Central District this weekend that is an example of both ongoing community investment in the area and struggles with drugs and violence.
Some organizers working to make Powell Barnett Park a safer place are happy to bring the event to MLK Jr. Way. John Barber, a member of the Seattle Parks board, posted this invite via Facebook:
You are invited to a community picnic with the Seattle Police and the neighborhood surrounding Powell Barnett Park next Saturday, July 16, 1pm to 4pm, at Powell Barnett Park, MLK JR Way, between E Yesler and E Cherry. This is a community policing/fun activity — music, hot dogs and ice cream, entertainment and door prizes. The area has been beset by driveby shootings and gang activities for years and our strategy has been repopulating the park to create a more positive environment.
A symbol of the Central District’s black history — and present — was formalized Saturday morning as SDOT replicated in a $7,500 paint job what the community did with spray cans and inspiration this summer.
Saturday, Mayor Ed Murray was on hand along with residents and members of RBG The CD to unveil a new community crosswalk in the Pan-African red, green, and black colors crossing MLK at Powell Barnett Park.
Angel Mitchell, whom in his brief address before the ceremonial first crossing Murray was first to thank for her work to make the community crosswalk happen, said the colors of the crosswalk are part of remembering the neighborhood’s past as the community works toward the future.
“The crosswalks symbolize the history of the Central District,” she said.
Continue reading
This picture of the shooting scene was posted to Reddit Seattle along with an account of the incident at the park: “There were a ton of families at the park that were in the line of fire. Thankfully no one was hit… But everyone was out and saw what happend. Black Town Car, Silver ATS & Grey SUV with red stripe. We saw you!”
A teen was arrested following a high speed car chase and crash but fortunately nobody was hit as gunfire rang out in a Monday afternoon shootout alongside the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park.
The 911 calls in the just after 3:30 PM incident reported Labor Day park visitors “scattering” as multiple shots were fired in the area. Vehicles were reported leaving the scene following the gunfire.
Police spotted a black towncar style vehicle speeding from the area that matched the description of a vehicle stolen at gunpoint in SeaTac last week. An officer in pursuit reported that the car collided with another vehicle near Dearborn and 7th Ave S where two occupants reportedly bailed out and tried to escape on foot.
One teenage suspect was quickly apprehended by police but a long search of the area for the second suspect — described as a heavy set black male around 6′ and wearing a black puffy jacket and a red t-shirt — was not successful. Police also recovered a revolver on the ground near the crash scene. UPDATE: SPD says a third suspect also evaded officers.
Seattle Fire was called to treat injuries suffered by the occupants of the vehicle the towncar collided with. The suspect also required medical treatment, according to Seattle Police radio dispatches.
There were no injuries reported at Powell Barnett Park where officers were busy marking shell casings and collecting evidence.
A Seattle Police spokesperson said the department will provide more details on the incident soon.
The incident continues a wave of gun violence hitting Seattle this summer. On Sunday, August 30th, a man suffered serious injuries when he was shot in a reported gunfight outside the Douglass-Truth library near 24th and Yesler. East Precinct and City Hall representatives met with community members in August at a neighborhood crime meeting to discuss recent gun violence. There has been a 23% increase in reports of shots fired this year in Seattle.
UPDATE: Here is SPD’s post about the incident. We have updated our original report to include the third suspect:
Officers arrested a teen Monday after reports of gunfire and a car speeding away from a Central District park.
Witnesses called 911 shortly after 3:30 p.m. Monday when they heard gunshots near Martin Luther King Jr. Way and E. Alder St. The witnesses reported seeing a black Lincoln Towncar driving away immediately following the shots.
Officer Jennifer Gardner spotted the town car, which had been taken in a recent car jacking, driving away from the area. The Towncar sped away only to crash into another car in the 800 block of S. Dearborn St. Three people fled from the Towncar as officers flooded the area.
Officer Adam Merritt was searching the area when one of the suspects ran past his patrol car. Officer Merritt chased the 18-year-old suspect eventually taking him into custody in the 1100 block of Airport Way S.
Officers located 7 shell casings at Powell Barnett Park and a revolver under a bush at 7 Ave. S. and S. Dearborn St.
Officers continued to search but were unable to locate the other two suspects.
