Community Post

Shots Fired at 15th & Alder

Posted on by

This morning at 10:45am a 911 call was received from a resident near 15th & Alder who heard five to six shots fired. They then looked outside and reported seeing a male running down the street with a gun.

There’s not very much confirmed information at this point. The original call was a bit chaotic, with multiple reports of victims/ suspects running in multiple directions. I just spoke to Mark Jamieson from SPD, who reported that there is no one in custody and no victims identitifed so far. Gang detectives are helping in the investigation, but it’s too early for police to definitively say this was gang related.

The only property damage is to the tail light of a truck that was parked near the intersection. Officers have recovered several shell casings from the scene.

One of the witnesses reported seeing the suspect with the gun get into a black Crown Victoria. An officer ended up behind a vehicle that matched both the description and license plate given by that witness, and eventually pulled the vehicle over near MLK & Mt. Baker Blvd. But as of right now police can’t confirm that the two occupants of that vehicle were involved or whether any weapons were found inside it.

Then later around noon there was a foot pursuit of a man in a red coat that matched one of the descriptions originally given out in the call. But he eluded police and was last seen running into Yesler Terrace.

It sounds like a major problem here the lack of cooperation from the possible victims and/or people that were in the area of the shooting. Three men were detained by police at 16th & Spruce shortly after the event, but they would only say that the shooter was wearing a red coat, and were described by police on the radio as uncooperative.

Now I’ve heard it’s deeply unfashionable in certain quarters to be seen as a snitch. But we’ve got some very dangerous people running around firing shots and no one involved is willing to help police take them off the street. So it’s only a matter of time until someone’s friend, kid, or family member is killed by that gun and the guy who’s wielding it. And that person’s blood is going to be on the hands of all the people who refused to help out when it was needed.

0 thoughts on “Shots Fired at 15th & Alder”

  2. Such a beautiful looking intersection and such an ugly act. Book them all, find out who the parents are, abate their houses (weed and seed)and resell to decent homeowners. If they rent, abate from the owner who allows them to live there. It worked in the 90’s with crack houses, why don’t we do the same for violent offenders?

  3. The issue is rarely one of not wanting to be a snitch, but rather of fear of reprisal by gang members. As far as I know, many local residents were very helpful, though they may have requested officers not speak to them at their doors, things like that. They had the majority of suspects being questioned within minutes of the shooting.

    This “weed and seed” approach is an ignorant suggestion. The causes of this sort of violence are deep, rooted in a lack of empowerment within the community and systemic racism and economic oppression. Even for those who want to get out the gang life, it is not so easy. Often, once you choose to leave, people from rival gangs will continue to target you, which may make you feel like it’s worth continuing to carry a gun. When I saw the three young men (teenagers) being questioned at the intersection of 16th and Spruce, I thought: these are kids. They have been duped into thinking that doing what they’re doing is what it means to be a man. They may have a lack of positive role models (perhaps a lack of a father), combined with a lack of promising lights in their future that might otherwise serve to draw them away from violence.

    When I saw the kids being questioned on that street corner, I thought: these kids, at worst, are going to be left on the street in the same situation, to possibly commit another, similar, crime. At best, they are going to enter a criminal justice system that is still mostly about punishment rather than rehabilitation…they may never be empowered to seek an education, get a job, or otherwise overcome the cards they were dealt. They will, rather, be instutionalized, exposed to a culture of institutionalized crime and violence.

    If you want to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, get involved in your neighborhood. Tutor at an after-school program, donate to a local community organization, go to neighborhood meeting. Do anything except sit on your ass and refuse to look at the much bigger issues of which this small shooting is just a part.

    Useful web sites (I spent the last hour researching these, there are probably more…):

    Central Area Development Association (www.cada.org)
    Central Area Motivation Program (www.campseattle.org)
    Rotary Boys and Girls Club http://www.teachstreet.com/teacher/rotary-boys-and-girls-club-of)
    Alder Academy http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/interagency/sites/alder/index.htm)
    Union Gospel Mission (www.ugm.org)
    Central Forum for Arts and Ideas (www.cdforum.org)

  5. According to the cop who visited our neighborhood watch meeting a while back, the police almost never get any cooperation from the victims in these shootings. Not surprising given that most of the victims are peers of the shooter or thugs themselves.

    As for what to do about it, social services for young kids is part of the answer.

    However, by the time a kid starts hunting his fellow human beings with a gun, social services are useless. At that point, the best outcome is that either the police or another thug takes him off the street before he destroys any more people or property.

  6. I’d invite you to come out and talk with the people who live at or near this intersection. I think you will find this to be quite a normal neighborhood with lots of people who are concerned about this event. We love our neighborhood, as is evidenced by the local P-Patch, gatherings at any number of community space, the plum trees that line our streets, conversations occurring in front yards. Come on over and open your eyes a little before you jump to conclusions about people touched by this morning’s shooting.

  7. I was not referring to your neighborhood where the shooting took place as a bad place. I know the intersection and the neighborhood and you are correct, it is a nice place. I was referring to the homes that these perps were from. They are NOT from your neighborhood but are traveling through. From the reports seen on this site and what I have heard, the main geographic area that is the source of the crime in this area is between 23rd ave S and 28th Ave, and between Jackson and Judkins. Specifically, 26th and 27th and King to Norman. That is where the abatement should be focused. Any other locations ?

  8. Weed and Seed is not an ignorant suggestion If you lived here during the Bloods, crips and black gangster disciples era weed and seed is what saved this area. I suggest you try and educate yourself about the history and successes of this program and the history of what this area went through. The primary backers of implementing weed and seed were long time african american residents who were feed up with what was going on and the lack of fair concern by city government.

    These “kids” are beyond the programs you have researched, they come from criminal homes and they need to be removed. We have had african american families starting to move back to the CD, we want to encourage this! By re-implementing weed and seed and getting rid of the criminal element, these families children will not be type cast by the police. That was the main reason alot african american families left!