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Gunfire & High-Speed Pursuit Ends in Arrest

Here’s what we can piece together for this event tonight:

At 11:55pm, medics and officers responded to a 911 report of a shooting at 18th & Yesler.  At some point police connected the shooting to a Black Hyundai Accent hatchback, and began a pursuit of that vehicle all over the neighborhood, with police cars flying in all directions with lights and sirens blazing. 

No victim was found at the site of the shooting at 18th & Yesler, and police haven’t been able to find or call the original complainant in that event.

SPD’s official policy is to not engage in high-speed pursuits due to the potential for injury to innocent bystanders.  At some point the pursuit must have crossed that threshold, as it was called off in the area of 32nd & Cherry, with the vehicle last seen headed northbound.

A short time after that, police received a new report of an accident involving a black hatchback at 30th & E. Howell. Police arrived there quickly and identified the vehicle as the one involved in the pursuit.  Witnesses described seeing a heavy white male leave the scene on a bicycle, and an officer soon detained a man matching that description just a block away.  K9 units had separately begun to work a track from the accident site and followed it straight to where the suspect was picked up.

A witness at that scene saw the suspect force entry into a home in the 1700 block of 32nd in an attempt to hide from police.  The suspect, a juvenile, was arrested for that crime while police attempt to definitively tie him to the other string of offenses that had piled up in the previous 30 minutes.

Witnesses at the crash scene said there was also a female passenger in the vehicle who left eastbound on foot.  K9 units followed a track for a couple of blocks but lost it.   Other witnesses saw her running near 30th & E. Harrison. However, she was still outstanding as of 1am.

We’ll try to get the official story on this tomorrow morning.

 

Here’s the near-real-time report as things unfolded:

Developing situation – we know there was an assault with weapons at 18th & Yesler with a large medic response.  

Police are chasing the suspect vehicle all over the neighborhood.  There was also mention of him having come from Aurora, so this may have started elsewhere.  

Police have terminated pursuit, vehicle last seen northbound on 32nd from Cherry, a black Hyundai Accent hatchback, license plate 115 XPJ.

Update: 12:11am    The medic response at 18th & Yesler closed out quickly, with no mention of a victim.  And police are unable to locate or call back the complainant who reported the shooting.  However, the two events are connected, with the shooting mentioned as “most likely related” to the pursuit.

Update: 12:14am     Fire crews are responding to reports of smoke coming out of a house at 3206 E. Terrace.  This is in the area where the pursuit was disengaged, but not sure if its related.

Update: 12:16am – 30th & E. Howell – Dark colored hatchback involved in an accident

Update: 12:17am – “That is the vehicle, let’s set up containment.  Is guardian up?”  “We don’t have guardian, k-9 is up”

Update:  12:22am – A large-build white male took off eastbound from the accident scene on a bike in a gray-hooded sweatshirt, talking on a cell phone.  Not clear if this matches the description of the suspect they’re looking for

Update: 12:24am – A west precinct unit may have detained the white male.  An east precinct unit is going over to check him out.  Not clear where.  “FYI – The seat is pushed way back in the car, so we may be looking for a pretty big kid. ”  The detained male is 6’2″, 6’3″.

Update: 12:25am – K9 is following a possible track from the 1700 block of 32nd

Update: 12:28am – “Get witnesses from the crash scene and see if they can come for a show-up. ”  K9 says:  “We’ve stopped cold where this suspect was detained.”  (can dogs really follow the scent of someone on a bike?)

Update: 12:30am – Suspect forced entry into a house in 1700 block 33rd Ave to try and hide from police

Update: 12:32am – A witness IDd the suspect for the forced entry.  They’re taking him into custody on that for now.   Containment released.

Update: 12:35am – The vehicle is registered to a female with an address in the North precinct.  Units up there are going to check if it was stolen or not.

Update: 12:38am – The suspect is a juvenile

Update: 12:39am – They’re now reporting that there was a female passenger in the car.  Last seen walking eastbound on Howell with a long overcoat and a purse.  Unknown race, skinny build.

Here’s the log of stuff we heard on the scanner for the rapid chase through the neighborhood:

  • westbound marion, back to 23, still westbound past 23, north 21, 
  • northbound 21 from union
  • eastbound on pike
  • west on east pike approaching 23rd
  • east on east pike, approaching 23rd.
  • 115 xPJ
  • east 27th & Pine, crossing MLK, eastbound on pine still, heacing up the hill
  • north on 35th from pine
  • eastbound on shubert east
  • south on 36th
  • black hundai accent hatchback
  • car was on aurora north, may try to go back to I-5
  • turned off lights
  • southbound crossing union
  • crossing columbia
  • crossing terrace
  • any victims on yesler?
  • terminate pursuit
  • westbound on 32nd – looked like he was trying to strike another officer’s car

0 thoughts on “Gunfire & High-Speed Pursuit Ends in Arrest

  1. I wasn’t really expecting you to be up this late but when I saw all the high speed chasing as the late show was letting out I thought I might see if there was news. Thanks for the late nite posting.

  2. It was a hard one to miss with the screaming sirens going every which way. Sounds like it ended with a successful arrest.

  3. Thanks for the update…all the activity this late at night scared the crap out of my cat! Did anyone else hear the loud crash somewhere in the vicinity of E. Cherry and MLK?

  4. I was listening to this at work, too (I’m in the dispatching biz, though not at SPD) — you caught a great deal of the action in your log. Ever thought about a career change? You know, 911 centers are always hiring… ;)

  5. Thanks for the detailed reporting. We live two doors down from the house that was invaded so we were up pretty late last night wondering what was going on.

    We moved to this house two months ago. I hope midnight home invasions aren’t a regular occurrence here. I had more than enough of that crap in California.

  6. We watched the chase up here on 24th & Marion. The guy circled around the block twice with the cops right on his tail. After the chase moved on we checked out the tire marks…he not only missed the cars on the corner by maybe an inch, he drove the length of the block (marion between 24th and 25th) on the sidewalk! Granted it was midnight but lucky no one was walking around. The stink from the transmission was hanging in the air for a good 20 minutes! We’ve been here on 24th for almost 15 years and last nights chase takes the cake!

  7. I was having tea, last nigth when all of a sudden mass sirens erupted, like you said i couldn’t tell what was going on because it seemed to be coming frome every direction. I live on 21st and jefferson. Trust me i see my share of everything. I was really curious, and was thinking of how i could find out what had happened, so i went online and found this website, WOW!!!. I had no idea, it was that much activity in this area. Thanks for keeping us infomed.

  8. Seattle cops 3, Dumb criminal 0

    So much for the theory of the criminal mastermind.

    The incident started a few minutes before midnight.

    An anonymous caller told a 911 dispatcher someone was shot Sunday near 18th Avenue and East Yesler Way.

    Seattle police who responded to the scene found no victim or witnesses, but did see a black 2008 Hyundai fleeing the area.

    They followed it, but the man didn’t pull over.

    After about a 10-minute pursuit that trailed across the Central District, police backed off.

    Police generally continue chases for serious felonies, said department spokesman Jeff Kappel, who gave some preliminary incident details.

    “But we had no victim or and no complainant,” he said. Had officers known the man fleeing was involved in a shooting, Kappel said they likely would have kept going.

    Apparently, the bad guy did.

    A few minutes after officers stopped the chase, police received word that the black Hyundai wrecked in the Leschi neighborhood.

    Kappel said the driver tried to break into a nearby house, but failed. He then tried to run down the street and was caught by police.

    “Now we’ve got him at least on investigation of hit and run, fleeing the scene and attempted burglary,” Kappel said.

    No injuries were reported. And police still hadn’t found a shooting victim by the time the Hyundai driver was arrested.
    Posted by Casey McNerthney at September 1, 2008 4:06 p.m.

  9. Who needs NASCAR. I gotta get my old camaro fixed. I can’t believe there was no extensive collateral damage, those streets are so narrow. The police should not engage in those chases given the price of fuel these days.

  10. Leschi? 30th and Howell is on the border of Madison Valley and Madrona. the other locations are Madrona. Great when the police don’t even know where they are!