I was forwarded an email about a shooting incident on New Years Day that entered the home of a neighbor near 22nd & Yesler. Here’s the scary story in their own words (note: some personal info & names removed):
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I want to first let you know that I am physically fine. I was at home yesterday Jan. 1, 08 and at 4:06pm in the afternoon doing my laundry and I heard a really loud noise I thought came from my kitchen and thought something fell over or my food blew up the microwave. The microwave turned out to be fine but looking around a little closer I realized that there was a huge hole in the middle of my window and immediately realized that it was a hole that had to be from a bullet! So called 911 and the police came right away and took my statement and recovered the imbedded slug from my living room wall. (sounds just like the last episode of Law and Order)From what I could tell from the police discussion there was a gunman(woman) in a car in the corner of 22nd and yesler possibly near the Odessa Brown Clinic parking lot and was shooting at two pedestrian that the gunman had a beef with and apparently missed them and the stray bullet ended up in my house. So the good news is that I was not the intended victim and even though the real intended victims got away I ended up being the only real victim of this crime due to the damage in my condo. The police went to the 22nd and yesler intersection to try to recover any shell casings for evidence and fingerprints but not sure if they were able to find any. Shell casings would only discharge if it were a semi-automatic but if it was a handgun the casing would be still in the gun. Just a little trivia I learned from the police.
The police was very helpful and responded very quickly and my friends came to my rescue and helped me clean up. Apparently the glass shattered and became glass powder and basically covered my entire kitchen in a fine glass powder so clean up was very emotional. I personally cannot still believe that this has happened to me and am a little jumpy still.
I spoke with the police about the crime and safety and they said that Seattle is still a really safe place to live statistically compared to other cities. Anyhow I suppose that I count myself really lucky that I was not in the kitchen at the time of the incident due to the flying glass bits. So basically doing laundry saved me. Anyhow I wanted to let you know that this happened and I am trying to follow up with the police to see if they have any leads on this case. I have so far found out this morning that my case has been assigned to an officer but that since last night they have to process 500 cases. So mine is only one of 500 cases that has happened since yesterday. Yikes!
Definitely a scary situation. This recent uptick in gun violence is something that we need to get a handle on ASAP.
UPDATE:
I just spoke to Mark Jamieson from SPD, who had good news on this case: Police were able to establish probable cause for a suspect who was arrested the following day and is currently locked up in the King County Jail. 24 hours from a dangerous offense to an arrest – very nice work.
We just got home around that time the same day and heard two loud pops, which I hoped was last minute fireworks however this confirms otherwise. I probably live next to you since I’m on Yesler as well right before 23rd. A few minutes before the shots, I was fixing up near my house and heard noises coming from outside. I turned and looked outside my front door window and saw two girls fighting in the parking lot across the street. I only saw it for a minute before it stopped but shortly after the shots rang. Ever since then, I’ve been very jumpy myself (which actually led me to find this site by searching for more about our area).
I’m an out-of-towner who just moved to the neighborhood and find this (and other incidents we’ve recently seen) very disturbing. Can someone please tell me if it’s been like this for a awhile now? And is it just me, or does it seem that gun violence has been on the rise lately (particularly in this area)? Hopefully I’m not overreacting but it sucks because every day now I wonder about the safety in our neighborhood. And I’m not sure what we can do to make it better (other than call the police – see 911 post). Anyway, I really hope it gets better around here. It’d be a real shame to be afraid of going outside our own homes, and even worse – near our own windows!
P.S. Sorry to hear about the damage to your home and glad that at least no one got seriously injured.
Ask anyone in the CD and they will tell you things are dramatically better now than they were in the 1980s during the peak of the crack epidemic. (Preface: personal opinions stated herein.) Unfortunately, the recent rise in violence is a side-effect of gentrification and recent city/police enforcement activities. As development expands south, with developers trying to extend the good Capitol Hill name into parts traditionally in the CD, marginal elements have been pushed south as well, riding the wave of gentrification. The city also recently revoked the liquor license of Deano’s/Chocolate City at 23rd and Madison, effectively putting it out of business. The well known open-air drug market and its clientele just moved on south to 23rd and Union to Thompson’s Point of View (essentially the only other black bar in the neighborhood). The police have also made several large scale busts/sweep through the area, in an attempt to arrest all of the dealers. What essentially happens in the wake is a turf war, where the remaining gangs fight over control of the drug trade. (Nature abhors a vacuum.) There is noticeably more gun-fire in the weeks following these busts. Don’t get me wrong- I have the utmost appreciation for the police and the tough mission they have been given. I just think that mission is a little misguided, and the city is failing in its duty to deal with the underlying problems of poverty, drug-addiction, and low-income housing.