Seattle Fire responding to victim with gunshot wound left outside Swedish Cherry Hill (Images: Alex Garland)
With reporting by Alex Garland
A male victim with a gunshot wound to the chest was left in the parking lot of the Swedish Cherry Hill hospital following a night of gunfire around 23rd Ave.
All details on Thursday night’s shooting incidents in the Central District are preliminary. SPD has confirmed that one male has been shot and that police are investigating. UPDATE: SPD says the victim is a 31-year-old man.
The aftermath at 23rd and Judkins
Seattle Fire prepares to transport a gunshot wound victim left outside Swedish Cherry Hill (Images: Alex Garland)
The male victim was apparently shot in an incident at or near Powell Barnett Park around 9:15 PM before being driven to the 17th Ave hospital where other occupants of the vehicle ditched the car and fled. Seattle Fire says it transported the male victim in critical condition to Harborview on First Hill. The trauma center at Harborview is typically better equipped to handle life-threatening injuries than standard emergency rooms.
Gunfire was also reported coming from a vehicle near MLK and Cherry following the Powell Barnett shooting.
Earlier in the evening, gunfire rang out and multiple cars were involved in a crash near 23rd and Judkins just before 8:30 PM. We do not have information on any injuries in the shooting around Judkins Park but police were on the scene investigating and collecting evidence. The incident was originally reported to Seattle Fire as a shooting involving multiple people.
Police have found shell casings at both Central District shootings. Suspects outstanding as officers continue to investigate.
— Seattle Police Department (@SeattlePD) June 26, 2015
The King County Sheriff’s Guardian One helicopter searched the area briefly following the Judkins Park incident. There were no immediate arrests.
UPDATE 6/26/15 7:30 AM: Here is the SPD report on the incidents.
Detectives are investigating a pair of shootings in the Central District that sent one man to the hospital Thursday evening.
Officers were first called to Judkins Park near 23 Ave and Judkins St at about 8:30 PM when a group in the park began shooting at a passing car. Though no one was injured in the shooting, the targeted car sped from the scene and crashed nearby causing minor injuries to the vehicle’s four occupants.
Police have recovered shell casings from the park and will be submitting them as evidence. Gang detectives are handling the continued investigation of the Judkins Park shooting.
Shortly after 9 PM, officers responded to reports of gunfire at Powell Barnett Park near Martin Luther King Jr Way and Jefferson St. Witnesses reported to police that a vehicle exchanged gunfire with people standing inside the park. As a family of four drove past the park, a bullet struck the interior of the car. Fortunately, no one inside the car was hurt. Though all suspects had fled the scene before police arrived, a K9 officer located a gun near the park as well as bullet casings which have been collected for the investigators.
About fifteen minutes after the shooting at Powell Barnett Park, 31-year-old man was found on the ground after being dropped off in front of a nearby hospital. Medics transported the man to Harborview Medical Center with life threatening injuries.
Homicide and CSI detectives are speaking with witnesses and collecting evidence as they investigate the shooting in Powell Barnett Park.
Anyone who may have witnessed or have information about either shooting are asked to please call 911 and speak with an officer.
We’re not far from MLK and Cherry. Didn’t hear a thing yesterday night?
Has anyone tried to get the feuding gangs together to air grievances? What are they shooting each other over?
ha ha
I don’t know. Why don’t you try and let us know how it goes!
It’s all about macho posturing and bravado. Pathetic.
I heard the Judkins Park shots while watching a little TV. My wife thought it was early 4th of July fireworks though the dog, the smartest of the bunch of us, took cover. There were numerous people in the area at that time that weren’t gang affiliated and could have been caught in the crossfire. I hope that the “innocents” who were around can direct the PD in the right direction.
When the weather gets hot, the hot lead starts flying.
My kid was in a little league game right there at Judkins when it happened.
I’ve been thinking about this crap for years, because I’ve lived here for years. This idea came to me earlier.
We hate it when our government installs cameras in public places but we rejoice when the cameras installed on private businesses and residences help lead to the solution of a crime. I’m pretty sure the people who live around Powell-Barnett are as tired of this shite as we at Judkins are.
Maybe we could crowd source some funds to help private residents install security cameras and DVRs all around the ingress/egress points for these parks. This takes the government out of it but could help empower the residents who are powerless to prevent the violence a means to help in the apprehension of the guilty.
I am for cameras everywhere!
Wow, perfectly put… you nailed it. You have my support. Someone organizes this and you have my money.
I live right next to Powell Barnett and we’ve thought about getting cameras for years, but haven’t. There is so much crap that goes on on this street on a daily basis that I’m happy to be ignorant about. Condom wrappers, trash, beer bottles…not to mention big rats and racoons. We also have finely tuned ears that can differentiate gunshots from fireworks. I just really don’t want to know or monitor the day to day stuff that’s really none of my business. I think cameras everywhere are too intrusive; the issues are bigger. We need more community and more being out on the street. Hiding behind camera won’t help the bigger problems.
Tasteless to include a picture of the victim in his underwear clearly showing his face. It is a complete violation of his privacy and disrespectful to friends and family. Please consider removing this photo. The victim has not been publicly identified yet.
I actually disagree strongly. If it was a pedestrian getting hit by a car then I would but in a shooting, transparency is best.
If the victim was a bystander and not involved in the shooting and doesn’t know ANYTHING about those who shot them then yes I’d agree. But he was dropped off by by a car full of people and clearly knows something. I’m fine with this, and if exposing his face on the internet helps bring attention to this incident.
You should change your handle to “Judge&Jury”. How you already know he knows something, or the implication that he somehow was involved enough to need to be “exposed”, is beyond me. I agree, it violates his privacy. Tacky.
This has nothing to do with who the man is — this is about what happened to him and showing what we saw to CHS readers
A picture that clearly shows the man’s face (appearing to make eye contact with the “photographer”) definitely is about who the man is. It is a total violation of his privacy which you seem to care nothing about.
I agree.
The photo of the victim is tasteless! Would you show pictures of of Victims form other crimes without the victims consent? Please take it down!
I agree. I get that you are reporting what happened, but all we know right now is that this man was a victim of a shooting. I would be upset to see a member of my family displayed like this, undressed and injured, so I assume this man’s family would like him treated with more dignity.
Sadly ironic that this happened while SPD was holding their EastPAC meeting with area residents.
yeah, the EastPAC meeting which almost half the people attending where there specifically to address the ongoing daily chaos and shooting related to Powell Barnett park (I believe this is the forth PB shooting since April).
The underground economy in consternation i.e. drugs, women, sex and egomania.
After a comparatively calm spring around our block, we have had some really suspicious people hanging out in front of our house over the last week. I have never seen them or their cars before, so I don’t think they live around here. They park their cars and stand in the street flashing signals. They typically leave their loud music on, so the whole neighborhood gets treated to the lyrics laced with profanity and slurs against women. I haven’t seen anything that would be enough to warrant a call to 911 (I know from years of experience when we had a horrible gang problem that you have to see the exchange of goods/money “handshake” or a weapon before the 911 operator will agree to put you in the queue for an officer). These guys are really creepy, and given the recent shootings, I am worried about their sudden presence.
By the way, I heard six gunshots at about 2:30 AM Saturday. They were not close to my house, so I cannot say exactly where they came from, but it sounded like it was from the vicinity of MLK and Yesler. It was definitely gunfire and not firecrackers (another great skill I have developed while living in my neighborhood is the ability to identify gunfire).