CHS tipster kevinseattle reported this morning that he woke up to the sound of “fireworks”. After observing a significant police response (10 police cars, helicopters and motorcycles) and the closing of Loretta Place between Bellevue and Summit, he suspects that he may have heard gunfire. Checking the Seattle Crime 911 map, we can confirm that police are responding to the report of an assault in the 1600 block of Summit Avenue called in around 5 am. KIRO 7 just reported on Twitter: “SPD out w/assault weapons on Loretta Pl. on Capitol Hill. SPD says suicidal man who may have access to gun contained to apt.” We will update this post when we learn more.
UPDATE: Police spokesman Jeff Kappel told the Seattle Times police do not believe there is anyone else in the apartment with the resident. “We want him to come out and talk to us, but he’s not cooperating,” Kappel said.
UPDATE 2: Seattle PI has some more detail regarding the suicidal man. He is 24 years old:
Officers tried to contact him on Thursday night after being alerted that he might be suicidal, a police spokeswoman said.
The man had called his mother and said he wanted to say goodbye.
Police went to his apartment and went inside. He wasn’t there, but officers did find a gun, which they seized.
Officers left business cards in an attempt to get the man to call them.
UPDATE 3: SWAT has entered the apartment
UPDATE 4: KIRO 7 reports that “It appears that a man has been taken into custody in the Capitol Hill standoff.” A SPD spokes person told CHS that the man was taken into custody “without incidence.” Full CHS post here.
There’s caution tape from pole to pole and you can’t access Bellevue Ave from Denny there are cops everywhere but no medical units on the scene as of 7AM
I heard gunshots on Loretta some time last night. It almost sounded like an automatic weapon.
14 Summit buses rerouted to Broadway – saw armed officers looking up outside of the Biltmore
1600 block of Summit Avenue East? That’s not even the 1600 block of regular Summit Avenue.
so the guy’s suicidal? With all the folks on the hill who actually DO give a damn, can’t somebody other than a Cop help the guy out?
I can confirm that this standoff was on my floor in the Biltmore apartments as officers rang my doorbell and asked me to leave. There were about 6-8 officers outside my door, some with guns pulled. The entire block was taped off. Kind of strange I had no idea this was going on all the while I was getting ready. Pretty rough morning.
I was wondering why the police had Bellevue @ Thomas blocked off when I walked to work around 8:15 this morning. All pedestrians were ordered to walk to either Melrose or Summit (though it sounds like walking to Summit would have required yet another re-route once people got near the Biltmore).
Sorry Tommy that was my error – corrected above
I live in the Biltmore and pretty much thought there was a pissed off tweaker trying to disturb the building. Early in the morning I heard what I thought was firecrackers but may have been gunshots. An hour later more of the same. Then another hour later, maybe around 6 or 7am, several glass bottles were thrown out of a window into the courtyard. Other than that I could hear some spoken back and forth that was confrontational but too distant to understand. When I left my building for work just after 9 there was a guy in custody in a cop car and another being led out of the building in handcuffs. The courtyard was littered with broken Old E 800 bottles.
The Biltmore is an impressively quiet building. Until I left for work, I had no idea there had even been a police response, much less 20+ cops cars and a SWAT team.