Community Post

Followup to Judkins Park Shooting

Yesterday we picked up a fresh batch of police reports, and as I was cruising through them I found one related to the shooting last Thursday in Judkins Park.   It turns out that the suspect in the shooting was not arrested for the shooting itself, but for narcotics possession.

Here’s the narrative from the report:

On [8/14/08 at 14:59pm] we spotted [the suspect] walking northbound on 28 Ave S approaching S King St on the west side of the street. [The suspect] was allegedly involved in another incident [the shooting] in which he was implicated as the suspect. We stopped and detained him at this location. We were told by Gang Unit Detectives Cobane and Hughey to transport [the suspect] to the SJC for questioning.  Officer Byrd searched [the suspect] prior to transport and located a clear plastic baggie containing small white rocks consistent, based on my training and experience, with the appearance of crack-cocaine. We transported [the suspect] to the SJC and released him to the custody of Gang Unit detectives. 

At the SJC, I field-tested the suspected crack-cocaine in accordance with WSP Crime Lab protocols. It field tested positive for cocaine and weighed 5.9 grams, a street value of $590. The suspected crack cocaine was packaged and submitted to evidence. 

Although there is no concrete information tying the suspect to a particular gang, 28th & King is just a block south of the Deuce 8 gang’s hangout at 28th & Jackson.

The report describes the suspect as a 15 year old black male, 5’6″, 140 lbs, with hair braided in corn rows.  His residence is located in the 900 block of 28th Ave S. 

We’ve got a call into the county prosecutor’s office to see if we can get any updates on charges against the suspect, and will update this when we learn more.

Update:  We started a separate story about the charging:  http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2008/08/20/15-year-old-ch

0 thoughts on “Followup to Judkins Park Shooting

  1. How do you get the text of the police reports so quickly? My parked car was hit by a driver who was subsequently taken into custody a week ago last Monday night. I wasn’t at the scene when the police were there, so I didn’t get any firsthand information. I mailed the records request the next morning (now a week ago yesterday), and haven’t gotten anything yet. The precinct office won’t tell me anything about the report (or even confirm that it’s available in the system).

  2. Redacted police reports are available for anyone to review at every precinct except for the East. We go down to the west precinct 2-3 times a week to collect them.

    Reports are generally released about 3-5 days after the event on average. But that can be a lot longer for larger crimes or sensitive events that are still under investigation. Once released, the reports are only held at the precinct for 4 days before being destroyed, so you can’t go and review reports from last week, last month, etc.

    The review process is very cumbersome. They come in on CD-ROMS as .pdf files, but they’re only images and not searchable. And the hundreds of reports on each CD-ROM are completely unorganized. Each disc has reports from all over the city and over a wide range of dates. (thus our often slowness in publishing the details here)

  3. Scott:
    Why are police reports not available for review at East Precinct? Are you aware of any effort to get such reports online in the future?

  4. It’s a space issue. The other precincts have specific report-reviewing rooms with a PC and printer. The east precinct is located in a much smaller building than any of the others, and there’s nowhere to put that review room.

  5. If you are a party to the incident (which it would be since your property was damaged) and have a report number, you can go in person to the main police headquarters downtown and get the report. There is a number you can call first to be sure they have it. I was in an accident last fall in Capitol Hill and this is how I got the police report to give to my insurance company.