UPDATE: King 5 reports that the victim in Friday’s shooting has died, though that has not yet been officially confirmed. UPDATE: Police confirmed that the 19-year-old victim has died.

King 5 also reports that the shooting occurred in front of the former home of Deshawn Milliken, who was murdered in a December shooting inside a Bellevue bar. The connection between the shootings, if any, is not yet clear.

Original story:

Seattle Police and medics responded to the 2500 block of South Norman Friday night after a shooting in the area.

All details are preliminary at this time and have not been confirmed by police.

Police were searching for a silver Mercedes 4-door sedan that carried the masked gunman. The shooter was reportedly accompanied by at least two other people in the vehicle including a driver. The car was last seen heading south from the scene on 26th Ave.

We do not yet have details on the victim or the victim’s condition in the shooting which was reported just after 7:30 PM. UPDATE: Seattle Fire reports that the victim is a male in his 30s (UPDATE: Police now say he was 19). He was shot once in the upper body and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to SFD.

Homicide units have been called to the scene which is typical in the investigation of a serious assault with weapons incident.

According to police radio dispatches, East Precinct is increasing emphasis patrols in the area following the violence.

UPDATE: SPD has posted a preliminary report on the incident:

Officers are looking for a silver sedan involved in a shooting in the Central District that occurred this evening.

At approximately 7:30 p.m. officers responded to 911 reports of a person shot in the 2500 block of South Norman Street. Preliminary information indicates that a male victim was shot while sitting in a vehicle in front of a residence. The shooter appears to have shot the victim from another vehicle. (See update below). The shooter fled the scene eastbound with an unknown number of other suspects in a silver sedan.

The primary suspect (shooter) is described as a black male, thin build, 5’11″ with dreadlocks or braids in his hair and wearing a black ski mask.

Fire department medics responded to the scene and transported the male victim to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

Police at the scene said they have no information about whether the shooting is connected to earlier violence in Skyway or an afternoon fight near Garfield High School.

UPDATE: Police at the scene say the victim was standing near a vehicle with a couple associates when the masked suspect walked up to him on foot, fired several shots at the victim, then fled on foot to a waiting vehicle.

The victim was struck several times in the torso and was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police believe the suspect used a handgun. He and the others in the vehicle — a gray, silver, light blue or tan Mercedes — are still at large.

Faculty and students protest the MAP in February

No Seattle teachers will be punished for failing to administer the MAP test during a winter term boycott, Superintendent José Banda said in a press release Friday.

Of the students and parents who opted out from the test District-wide, most were from Garfield and Ingraham High Schools.

The boycott, which began at Garfield, had widespread support from faculty, students and parents and even earned a fair amount of national attention.

From Seattle Schools José Banda:

Dear Seattle Public Schools community,

Our community has engaged in a deep discussion during the last two months about the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment, which provides data used for screening and analyzing student achievement and measuring growth over time.

While we know the MAP assessment has its strengths and limitations, it’s important for educators to use a variety of data sources to help inform classroom instruction. For many of our teachers and principals, the MAP assessment provides critical information to help screen our academically at-risk students so we can  identify additional supports and provide more personalized attention, as well as measure their academic growth and improvement over time. Continue reading →

Here’s a look at some of the recent crime incidents in the neighborhood. Most information comes from Seattle Police reports and reader tips.

Teen robbed and assaulted at 21st and Yesler

A mother contacted CDNews earlier this week to tell us her teen son had been robbed and assaulted outside the Carolyn Downs Clinic at 4 p.m. March 22.

The attackers, who were also young, picked their moment to demand his iPhone, then punched him. From the police report:

The teen victim’s mother had this to add: “Although there were plenty of witnesses, no one stopped to help him except for the wonderful employees, nurses and doctors at Carolyn Downs Clinic. To them, I say thank you.” Continue reading →

A recent DPD map showed areas where legal marijuana could potentially be sold

Some city councilmembers want to shield the city’s tourist areas, historical districts and family zones from the effects of legalized marijuana.

Councilmembers Nick Licata and Sally Clark are proposing an amendment to the city’s Land Use Code, to restrict production, processing, selling and delivery of marijuana in Capitol Hill’s Harvard-Belmont area, the downtown core, and other historical districts and family zones throughout the city.

The changes could further restrict the already tight squeeze predicted for marijuana retailing locations that might not run afoul of federal guidelines.

We wrote recently about the potential for 23rd and Union to be one of the only central Seattle pot sales locations. The changes proposed in the ordinance do not appear to directly take the location off the table for recreational marijuana businesses. While the ordinance would not allow sales in small neighborhood commercial zones (NC1), 23rd and Union is zoned NC2. We have requested clarification from the city to confirm that the corner would not likely be affected.

UPDATE: Brennon Staley from DPD says the proposed ordinance would not affect 23rd and Union:

The proposed ordinance would not impact the NC2 zones outside of historic districts.  This includes the commercial areas around 23rd and Union.  It would limit the growth, processing, selling, and delivery of marijuana in the adjacent residential zones.

The proposals come in response to recently enacted I-502 and the necessity to develop a process for regulating marijuana and marijuana products, according to the city.

The proposal would not alter federal or State criminal law related to marijuana, and it would not place any City employee in the position of permitting or sanctioning any marijuana-related activity. Continue reading →

Screenshot of FAS

CDNews has a new independent news neighbor.

Fifth Avenue Seattle is a hyperlocal news site focused on the Central Business District, the International District and Pioneer Square.

Capitol Hill Seattle and CDNews contributor Sebastian Garrett-Singh started the site last week and officially launched it today. So if you work or play downtown (or just want to know what’s happening on the other side of I-5), check it out.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

As The Seattle Times and news sources nationwide continue a shift for paid web content, a void has been created, and with downtown Seattle remarkably starved of news content, that void has now been filled. News blogger Sebastian Garrett-Singh adds his voice to the hyperlocal news ecosystem with the unveiling of the blog Fifth Avenue Seattle. The blog is devoted to the neighborhoods adjacent to Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington providing up to date news and information for those that work, live, and play in the urban core. http://www.FifthAvenueSeattle.com focuses on news stories originating from Seattle’s Chinatown, Pioneer Square, and the Central Business District with plans to expand north and south along the corridor.

At 22, Garrett-Singh is Seattle’s youngest, neighborhood-centric, blog/business owner. Garrett-Singh served as 2012-2013 Executive Editor of the New City Collegian, a grassroots publication covering the Seattle Community Colleges system. Promoted just months after signing on as a reporter, he is no stranger to reviving a dying enterprise in a down market.  Under his leadership, NCC returned to a one-off print edition garnering national media attention including The Seattle Times, Student Press Law Center, and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and a news partnership with The Seattle Times.

Read more…

O’Donnell shows CDNews some of the fantastic gardens in the neighborhood (2011)

For many years, Kristin O’Donnell has worked to make sure the voices of Yesler Terrace residents are present at City Council meetings, East Precinct crime prevention meetings and, of course, Yesler Terrace redevelopment meetings.

As a longtime neighborhood activist and resident of Yesler Terrace, O’Donnell is a central part of the neighborhood’s community council, which conducts its business in five languages so that most residents of the housing project, many of whom are recent immigrants, can stay informed and have input into issues affecting them.

We spoke with O’Donnell for a two part feature on the Seattle Housing Authority’s then-pending Yesler Terrace redevelopment plans back in 2011. Since then, Yesler Way and Broadway have been torn up and are being rebuilt complete with streetcar tracks and new bikeways, the SHA and City Council have passed the redevelopment plans, and some projects are already underway.

Now KUOW has a great feature on O’Donnell that’s definitely worth a listen: Continue reading →

Faculty and students protest the MAP in February

The recent Garfield High School protest against mandatory MAP testing is still shaking up the national conversation about education, even after the school district carried out the testing against the nearly unanimous will of the faculty, students and parents.

MAP tests, administered several times a year, have no bearing on students’ grades, and the students know it. This is one of the many arguments school faculty have made against the test: Students know it won’t affect their GPA, so many don’t try. However, the results could affect teacher evaluations.

The New Yorker recently dove into the conversation, essentially arguing that the debate comes down to our trust in teachers.

From the New Yorker:

That low-stakes status is precisely the problem, as far as the Garfield teachers are concerned. McBride writes that the students know the test doesn’t affect their grades or class standing, so they don’t invest much effort in it. And because it is an externally developed assessment, which the teachers say largely fails to align with district and state standards (N.W.E.A. disputes this point), there is no preparation for it. In sum, students are taking an exam that doesn’t really count, on material that may or may not be relevant, and producing results that may have nothing to say about them or their future. If you subscribe to the notion that education is preparation for life, then these students have received their first primer on the soul-crushing routines of bureaucracy.

They then go on to say that the debate boils down to two differing opinions of teachers in general: Continue reading →

Just in from Umojafest:

2013 Miss Umoja Queen

SCHOLARSHIP PAGEANT

Stimulating Unity for Success

MAY 4, 2013

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

104 17th Ave S Seattle, WA 98144 

The 2013 Miss Umoja Queen Scholarship Pageant is dedicated to demonstrating a successful, full-of-value lifestyle that we want all of our African-American women to lead. We know that, that it is possible through guidance, support and unity amongst us all. Women who participate in our scholarship pageant will have the opportunity to create new meaningful relationships, build confidence and self-esteem, and have support while improving priceless long life skills including, but not limited to, poise, communication, and interview skills. Our goal for now and for the future is to diminish the value of superficial beauty beginning within own community. Each pageant participant will not only leave knowing the true meaning of natural beauty but will also know the importance of unity and will have a greater sense of accomplishment. Continue reading →

Screen capture from dashboard video of Etherly’s arrest

Leo Etherly has reached a plea deal regarding the hit and run that preceded his now-infamous October arrest.

After the county declined to press charges against Etherly, the city charged him with striking a woman on a bike at 29th and Jefferson, then fleeing the scene.

Slog reports that Etherly has reached a deal that would allow him to avoid serious penalties beyond payment of restitution to the victim and 48 hours of community service if he stays out of trouble for two years:

Etherly accepted a dispositional continuance deal, meaning that if he has no new criminal violations in the next two years, pays restitution to the hit-and-run victim, completes 48 hours of community service, pledges to drive with a valid license and insurance, completes a drug and alcohol class, and pays a fine of $145, after two years the driving with a suspended license charge will be dismissed and the hit-and-run bicyclist will be reduced to a hit-and-run unattended (meaning, instead of being charged for hitting a person and fleeing the scene, he’ll be charged with hitting a bicycle and fleeing the scene. The latter charge is a simple misdemeanor rather than a gross misdemeanor and won’t result in the loss of his license). Continue reading →