A night of deadly gun violence in Seattle’s nightlife neighborhoods included a shooting reported near Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park.
Police say at least three people were reported dead and more injured in what have been reported as separate shootings around 2 AM in Belltown, and a second and third incident involving a large crowd leaving a Pioneer Square nightclub. KING reports three dead, and four people hurt in those incidents. UPDATE: The chaotic night may have led to confusion on the number of deaths in the shootings. SPD says they are trying to confirm if two or three people are dead. UPDATE x2: SPD confirms three dead. UPDATE x3: A fourth person died in a Sunday night shooting in Lake City.
The Capitol Hill shooting followed a few hours later with 911 callers reporting a possible exchange of gunfire involving multiple shooters around 4:45 AM.
Seattle Police and Seattle Fire were called to the scene at Nagle and Pine where there was one reported victim who had walked back to the site of the shooting after leaving the area, according to East Precinct radio. We do not yet have information on the victim’s condition from Seattle Fire. UPDATE: Seattle Fire reports a 31-year-old male was evaluated at the scene but did not require a trip to the hospital.
Another gunshot wound victim was dropped off by a private vehicle at First Hill’s Swedish Hospital just after 5 AM but it was not immediately clear where in the city that victim had been shot. UPDATE: SPD reports the man taken to Swedish was hit in the Capitol Hill shootout. “The victim stated he had been shot at the park after playing in a basketball game,” SPD reports.
The shootings come amid a summer wave of gun violence as Seattle reopens from months of COVID-19 restrictions including this deadly shooting at 23rd and Jackson. Early Sunday, SPD Chief Adrian Diaz addressed the shootings and said more must be done to get guns off the streets.
Early Sunday shootings in Belltown, Pioneer Square, and the Chinatown-International District left 3 dead and 4 injured. As Chief Diaz recorded this update, officers were responding to an additional shooting at Cal Anderson with multiple victims. More information to come on all. pic.twitter.com/2j0uS3aSy4
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) July 25, 2021
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For such a small street, it sure has seen a lot of crime over the past 10 years.
It’s basically the alley next to Cal Anderson Park, so there’s a lot of overflow late on weekend nights.
Natural social gathering points (basketball courts nearby) and comparatively light foot/automotive traffic.
Relatively inconspicuous, below Broadway street level, Places to drop into the shadows. My guess is it’s a convenient hub for whatever.
Cops seem to be ignoring things on purpose, because our Council and our city Attorney have all made it clear that arresting people for trivial things like loitering around selling drugs is not a crime. And then other individuals show up who also want to loiter around and sell drugs, and they have a conflict to settle which involves them using firearms, and ta da, another shooting.
99% chance this incident was an outflow – related to the big night at 2nd and Washington. In other words, of no involvement to any Capitol Hill resident, other than the very slight risk of a stray bullet or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police all know who is behind this kind of stuff, but I honestly think they believe Capitol Hill wants more hands-off from police, after CHOP and the fiasco our Council helped facilitate and lead. It’s turned police into sort of maliciously leaving themselves out of doing anything resembling proactive policing, because why would they stick their necks out and get blamed for starting anything. Better to wait til the calls come, and then go in and help clean up the result.
Is malicious the right word? You acknowledge yourself that they’ll get punished for doing anything different.
Belltown and Pioneer Square were trouble spots when I moved here in 1996, nothing has changed. Yet also since 1996, I don’t remember any shootouts at Neighbors, the Cuff, or R Place. Please follow the way gay people do “night clubs”…go out, have FUN, hook up (or not) then go home. There’s no reason to pose and front and puff out your chest in toxic masculinity and have to get into a gun fight over some stupid random argument. Knock it off.
They made a couple of arrests:
https://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2021/07/25/three-killed-five-injured-in-sunday-morning-shootings/
The Cal victim said he was playing basketball before in the blotter.
Mean streets. I’d like to think that Seattle is better than this, but we are not.
It’s not indiscriminate violence at least, it’s people who have some connection to each other. So as long as you’re not out late around dodgy areas of town where their stray bullets are flying, it’s otherwise safe it sounds. If it were random victims, the police normally report that since that’s a bigger issue.
At 4:40 a.m., 911 callers reported hearing several shots at Cal Anderson Park. Shortly after, a man with a gunshot wound arrived at Harborview Medical Center in a rideshare vehicle. The victim stated he had been shot at the park after playing in a basketball game. – Does the park not close at 11PM? I’m sure the apartments along Nagle love not only basketball games being played at 4:40AM but a shootout.
Yep, the area around the basketball courts by the pumphouse and north of that for about 50 yards can be a trouble spot. People pretty much feel safe to do whatever they want, and things escalate. The area is pretty hidden and sealed off from direct observation. Black block activists commonly staged on the other side of the pumphouse by the wading pool, as it provides similar protection. Eliminating public access and/or moving the pumphouse would be the ideal solution. Otherwise, a regular patrolling presence (police?) is necessary. It becomes pretty obvious if you frequent that area of the park on a standard summer evening.
Really feel for the people with street level units there. I imagine those will become un-rentable. I’d advise anyone not to move there even if they are cheap or MFTEs. Not worth it!