The Seattle Police Department is investigating a reported armed robbery at a grocery store in the 1100 block of Martin Luther King Jr Way.

CDN is still collecting information on the Saturday morning incident but we know at this point police were called to the store near E Union and MLK just before 11a to a report of a robbery involving a weapon.  We will update as soon as we learn more from SPD.

CDN has not confirmed which business was involved in the incident but the Grocery Outlet is located on the block where the robbery was reported. A check of Seattle Fire reports for the area reveals no medical dispatches at the time of the reported hold-up.

Medics and police responded to 14th and Union just before 7p Wednesday to a report that a man was found slumped over inside a vehicle parked at the location.

All details at this point are preliminary and have not been confirmed with authorities. We will continue to update as we learn more about the situation.

According to Seattle Fire radio dispatches, the man was found slumped inside a white vehicle at the location. A large medical response was initiated but we do not have details on the man’s condition.

Witnesses at the scene reported a body under a sheet nearby.

The intersection was closed fore more than hour and remained closed as of 8:20p as the medical examiner was called to the scene.

UPDATE: Police were called to the scene to investigate, but found no signs of foul play. A few more details from Seattle Fire:

At 6:41 p.m. we were called to the 14th Avenue and East Union Street for a Med 7 response.  Aid Unit 25 and Engine 25 and Medic Unit 1 all responded to an unconscious, unresponsive male in the back of a van. Firefighters and Paramedics spent 45 minutes performing CPR and trying to revive the man. The male in his 40’s, never regained consciousness. As standard procedure we called the Medical Examiner and the Seattle Police Department to investigate the death.

Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times, himself a “Madrona dad,” crunches some numbers in the wake of the Justin Ferrari shooting:

According to police records, there is a shooting in the blocks around Garfield nearly once a month. In the past year, there have been 10, including some in broad daylight with people around. The only difference this time is that a bystander was hit.

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Just last weekend, a pot deal next to the Garfield baseball fields went bad, ending with one man running down East Cherry Street blasting four rounds from a 9-mm Luger at a known gang member who goes by the nickname “Loco.” This didn’t make the news.

But it does make the Central District News. Westneat doesn’t note that the SPD public information system takes several days before a full report on a crime becomes available. Before then, CDN often hears about things from the police scanner, email tips from readers and our community posts from neighbors sharing information. Here is the SPD narrative report on last weekend’s armed robbery made available this week:

Westneat’s other datapoints are easy enough to check out against the SPD report records here on the Seattle My Neighborhood map provided by the city. You can find “Weapons Violations” under the blue “Miscellaneous” heading. Assaults, drive-bys and homicides are filed under the red “Crimes Against Persons” section. Looking at the map for the year-long timeframe referenced by Westneat certainly paints a picture of a war zone:

What we’d really like to see is timelier access to SPD’s reports and better statistical analysis of the situation in the Central District and across Seattle — four drive-bys in South Seattle on Saturday, by the way. SPD’s “hot spot” policing is reportedly built atop this kind of analysis. As Westneat points out, many of the datapoints are publicly available. But this view only shows part of the picture.

The investigation into the shooting that left Justin Ferrari dead behind the wheel of his car as he and his visiting parents drove his children to swimming lessons Thursday afternoon continues with detectives combing through evidence collected from the scene around MLK and Cherry and following leads in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, community vigils and efforts to organize around the tragedy to better understand and deal with the circumstances that lead to it continue.

On Friday, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn visited the scene of the 42-year-old Ferrari’s killing and said the city would respond by increasing the number of police on the streets and doing more to confiscate weapons. Friday night, the increased presence was visible with a greater than usual number of SPD vehicles on patrol in the Central District.

SPD’s public description of details of the incident have shifted over the last 48 hours. Initially, police described Ferrari as being caught in the crossfire of a street dispute and a detailed description of one suspect was posted to the SPD’s blotter web site. Police were looking for “a black male, light-skinned, late teens to 20′s, six feet tall, 170 pounds, hair in corn rows, possibly wearing a dark hat, red jacket with gray or dark-colored panels on it, shorts and red shoes.” By Friday, police specified that they were looking for one shooter from the incident and described the suspect as only a black male in his 20s.

“Near the intersection of MLK Jr. Way and East Cherry Street the suspect began firing a gun at individuals that he was in a verbal altercation with,” SPD’s description of the incident reads. “The victim was struck by one of the bullets fired by the suspect, killing him. The suspect then fled the scene on foot.”

Homicide detectives are reportedly working with surveillance video collected from businesses in the area from around the time of Thursday’s shooting to identify the suspect. CDN is also aware of several instances where police have detained suspects fitting descriptions of people seen by witnesses in the Central District and outside the neighborhood including places like downtown’s troubled 3rd and Pine intersection.

According to the Modesto Bee, Ferrari is the son of a prominent farming family in Turlock, California. His parents were visiting the Madrona family to watch their grandchildren as Ferrari and his wife, Dr. Maggie Hooks, planned to spend some time alone.

Ferrari’s killing marks the 15th homicide for Seattle in 2012 — the city recorded 20 in 2011. Nearly all of the 2012 killings have been shootings. The spike comes as Seattle’s homicide rate had dropped to a 55-year low in 2010. While the Central District has had its fair share of reported gun violence and reports of shots fired, according to CDN’s records and the SPD’s posted blotter reports, Thursday’s incident was the first homicide in the neighborhood since a man was found beaten to death near Garfield High School last fall.

Meanwhile, Saturday brings another vigil to the intersection of MLK and Cherry as a group of pastors is planning a prayer vigil. Minister Greg Bankstells the Seattle Times the “gathering is a chance for people to come together and pray for the victim and his family, the perpetrator, and the community.” The vigil is planned for 12:30-1:30 Saturday.

Brian Wells looks on as the senator speaks at Tougo (Image: CDN/CHS)

Patty Murray’s visit to 18th Ave’s Tougo Coffee to discuss legislation to level the playing field on tax-dodging gazillionaires has a back-story the senator probably had no idea was prologue to her Wednesday morning appearance.

“I don’t ever want to put it behind me because it’s something to keep me motivated to keep working harder, to keep working smarter,” Brian Wells said following the press conference inside his coffee shop. In early 2011, Central District News reported on a $10,000 City of Seattle tax hole the 18th and Union coffee shop had fallen into. With donations — and a friendly payment schedule — Tougo is back on its feet. Wells said Murray’s visit to his shop brought the struggles he has had running a small business back into focus as he says Tougo is continuing to make progress as a community hub in the neighborhood.

“It feels full circle because we’re still struggling with some of the issues we had with our taxes,” he said. “We’re on a really good schedule to get that paid off but it’s not that far away.”

“Tax day is just a few days away and families across our state are putting the final touches on their tax returns and getting ready to send them in,” Murray said during her time at the microphone inside the busy coffee shop. “And under current law the wealthiest Americans are able to work with their accountants to find and exploit every loophole in the book to bring down their rates and reduce what they owe.”

The proposed Buffett Rule, named for tax-friendly super rich guy Warren Buffett, sets a minimum tax rate of 30% for individuals earning more than $1 million. It also sets up a robust political battle.

“The wealthiest Americans should be playing by the same set of rules as every other American family,” Murray said.

In his time at the podium, Wells said he is angered by the country’s tax code inequity.

“It burns me, it gets my blood to boil a little bit,” the Tougo owner said. “But small business owners around the country are supporting tax changes like the Buffett Rule that will ensure that millionaires are not only contributing but they’re pulling their full share of weight in regards to taxes.”

The Tougo location for the Wednesday conference was chosen by the Main Street Alliance, a national coalition of small-business groups, for its focus on community, reps from the Washington wing of the group told CHS.

Following his recovery from the city tax issue, Wells has also simplified the Tougo business shuttering his Westlake location last year. Last fall, Tougo 18th Ave also downsized and made space for kids clothing store Magpie.

Malia Keene (Image: CDN/CHS)

Magpie owner Malia Keene joined Wells at the podium along with Murray. 

“While I don’t like writing that tax check, I am proud to do so,” she said.

“But when millionaires game the system to avoid paying their fair share it means that small business owners and middle class tax payers are left picking up their tab.”

Murray said the Buffett Rule legislation will be introduced when the Senate resumes next week.