A big crowd of neighbors showed up tonight to listen and speak to city officials about the Halloween shooting of Quincy Coleman. The East Precinct’s Captain McDonagh gave a brief recap of the shooting, saying that there were a number of kids hanging on on the east side of the playfield along 25th. A gun was displayed as a vehicle drove by, causing the kids to scatter before shots rang out, hitting Quincy and another boy. Quincy collapsed at the bottom of the nearby stairs that go down to the playfield. The second kid ran to the Teen Life Center that’s part of the new gym and theater complex. The captain once again stressed that the shooting happened on the public sidewalk and had nothing to do with Garfield nor with the Teen Life Center.
No suspect has been taken into custody yet as part of the shooting. But the captain did say that there are lots of rumors going around that kids know who was involved. Police urge anyone with any information to contact police or through an anonymous text of call to Crime Watchers.
Captain McDonagh also said that the police department has made a lot of changes to their patrols since Garfield students returned to the campus this year after being gone for two years due to the big remodel. This includes a full time officer assigned to the school during the day, plus additional enforcement through increased patrols and plain clothed officers doing enforcement around the campus. The officer who now works at the school was described as a sort of member of the faculty. The goal is to get him to interact with the kids on a mentoring and teaching basis, not just for punitive actions.
The captain also said that there have been an increase of thefts and robberies around the school during lunch and at each end of the school day. Police have increased patrols during those hours to try and prevent those sorts of events.
Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz also spoke, saying that the safety of kids and residents in the area around Garfield is currently the department’s number one priority. They’ve been working with a number of outside agencies to address the problem and have deployed additional gang officers and other central resources into neighborhood. However, he said that there have not been any patrol officers that have been permanently transferred from more docile parts of the city to the East Precinct.
It was a long meeting so I’m breaking this up into 3 separate reports. Stay tuned for part 2 of our summary: opportunities for how you can get involved in some community organizations that are trying to address problems with youth violence.
This site while often informitive is really just a crime blog. Its a major mistake to have so much of a focus on crime and negative stuff. Who among us wont eventually get turned off to this site and thi neighborhood? How much can people take before they just move and start reading sites like http://www.kirklandnews.com ? Consider changing the format….
Maybe they need increased police presence at every Garfield event for the safety of the students and the community.
This Seattle Times article says “They said that at least one of their attackers attends their high school, but they aren’t friends.” http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008380002_t
Garfield homecoming was at the center on 10/24.
Agree that there is lot of info on neighborhood crime but knowledge is power. It seems as though several crimes have been thwarted as a result of the info Scott posts here. It is also a great forum for the neighborhood to work together and harness our collective strength. My guess is that the way that other parts of the city get what they want is that they are organized and informed. This blog does that for us. Hopefully over time Scott will have much less to report on. But in the meantime he is performing an extremely important public service -providing us information and a forum on a community focused level that is not available anywhere else. This is what good papers used to do! Keep up the great work.
The Garfield homecoming dance was on 10/24 and these attacks were reported to have occurred on 10/25. You’re right (comment below.) I think that I was hoping that the connection wasn’t there but I suspect that it is, even if it’s not been reported.
I personally disagree with your sentiments. What’s happening and what’s being reported good and bad is the news. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of crime. When I go for walks in this neighborhood I feel safer because I’m a little bit in the know and aware of what’s happening largely due to this blog. This blog doesn’t make me afraid it actually makes me feel safer. I get frustrated and bummed out about many of the situations reported within the blog, but wishing the blog would report less crime isn’t going to make that so.
My main concern living in this neighborhood (I live 3 blocks from Garfield) is keeping my family safe. While I welcome information and news that is positive, it’s not going to keep me safe and informed about the increasing number of shootings, breakins and general gang warfare in my neighborhood.
Here’s some positive news: I’m committed to living in the CD and doing what I can to make it a safe and vibrant neighborhood. I would never ever move to Kirkland–while this neighborhood might not be the safest, I would lose my mind living in an uppity burb like Kirkland.
Thanks to Scott and all that he does!
–Christina Mallet
As I read it. The Tuba man was attacked after midnight on the 24th, hence the 25th. The kids were attacked on the 24th.
I appreciate the reports of crime and safety awareness that come from Scott and other neighbors. This site also reports on community events, design projects, the election, networking with neighbors and history. I know more about my neighborhood becarse of this site and tell others in the neighborhood to check it out the site. It’s a valuable resource. I often check the site just to make sure my address isn’t listed in the Scanner Report – :)
I hear a lot of frustration in the comments left with many posts. Voice that frustration – this site can be used as a way to connect all of us in this common experience.
If you know of something positve going on in the neighborhood – an event at the Y, something happening at the library, a ceremony, parade or want to let the neighborhood know about an inspirational person – post it! But, don’t stop letting us know about the crime and scams going on either. We need to stay connected.
This news site is great in how interactive it is in alerting and sharing concerns quickly. I also admit a small addiction to the scanner. However don’t lose sight of what we are fighting for in the fight against crime. The CD News is a great forum for discussing our dreams and visions of how we would like the CD to be. This happens often in the reporting about development and real estate. I encourage everyone to get out of the house and use the neighborhood as you would like it to be. Part of displacing crime can be done by crowding it out with the things we like. Stay tuned to the CD News and be aware, but don’t let the bad news prevent you from living life.
Scott has done what no other community council has done in decades, tie us all together with needed information. Knowledge is power and it unites us and prevents the control, dis-imformation and dumb down we in the CD have received from various parts of city government who desire to keep the CD a containment zone. Agree with me or not, Scott has presented the good, the bad and ugly and we are better for it.
Kirkland? I have friends who live in Kirkland and it it is a suburb with all the boredom and crime that comes with the bordom and car-centric atributes of a suburb. I am sure there are those who like it there but not for me. Having lived in Europe and a large American city Seattle is like a very overgrown suburb, only a walkable, vibriant and multi-cultural suburb. Thaks , but no thanks, mono-cultures are, to me, boring.
Just finishing this thread up.
Komo says: “The three who pleaded guilty were identified as Kenneth Kelly, 15; Ja’Mari Jones, 16; and Billy Chambers, 16. All were 15 at the time of the attack. “
Seattle Times says: “Two of the teenagers — both Cleveland High School students — face a sentence of up to 72 weeks in detention while the third, a Garfield High School student, faces up to 36 weeks.”
Kenneth Kelly from Garfield, an honor student, killed Tuba Man.
fucc quincy and da cd on da vally