(Image: @Omarisal)
Gunfire shattered glass Friday morning on the one-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of business owner D’Vonne Pickett, Jr. at MLK and Union. Teens with a more recent beef may have been responsible.
Police were called to Pickett’s mail services shop The Postman early Friday after reports of multiple gunshots just before 5 AM. Arriving officers found shattered windows but no injuries. According to East Precinct radio updates, witness reports described three male teens fleeing southbound on foot on MLK after the shooting. There were no reported arrests.
In a statement, Keanna Rose Pickett said the shooting appears to have stemmed from an incident at an “unsanctioned candlelight vigil held the night before” to honor her late husband. As of Sunday morning, a fundraiser to help pay for repairs had reached more than $4,300 in donations.
The Pickett family reopened The Postman in November 2022. Pickett, Jr. had been gunned down October 19th outside the mailing services shop he opened with KeAnna in 2018. The father, business owner, and youth football coach was 31. D’Vonne Pickett told CHS in 2018 his grandfather served as a mail carrier for the USPS in Seattle for nearly 40 years and was an inspiration for the store.
CHS reported here on the public memorial held at Climate Pledge Arena for Pickett. The man charged in Pickett’s murder amid a “psychotic” string of shootings leading up to the MLK and Union killing pleaded not guilty in the slaying and remains held. CHS also reported on a mistake made in the emergency dispatch process that cost valuable minutes in the efforts to save Pickett’s life.
Bullets rang out early this morning in the #CentralDistrict shattering the windows at #ThePostman as candles from a vigil hours earlier remembering the life of D’Vonne Pickett Jr. who was murdered here exactly one year ago still burned bright. No injuries reported. pic.twitter.com/XCRu35yL6B
— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) October 20, 2023
In her message, Pickett thanked the community for its support.
“Throughout this past year, our community has been our pillar of strength, holding us up during this challenging journey of rebuilding and finding our footing once again,” she wrote. “We appreciate your patience as we have navigated fluctuating store hours and temporary closures.”
Friday’s gunfire comes amid renewed concerns over gun violence in Seattle following a drive-by shooting last week at 23rd and Jackson that sent a man to the hospital and shattered windows at a kid-filled learning center.
UPDATE: Citing safety concerns, Keanna Pickett has announced The Postman will be indefinitely — and immediately — closed:
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Doesn’t this seem like, targeted? Like what the fuck? The coincidence of it being a shooting related death, and it being a year after is crazy red flags
Agreed, someone must have an ugly beef against that poor family. Tragic.
Hmmm… My money is on coincidence and an itchy trigger finger. Two different businesses on Pine at Summit had their windows are shot out as well.
Define the coincidence. Do you mean that the shooter was the same punk as the PineSummit shooter?
And what is an itchy trigger finger? Are these degenerates playing cowboy like 12 year olds running around on stick horsies?
These are children pretending to be men.
It’s time for the community to identify the punks that continue to terrorize our city.
We need to hire more cops and get judges and prosecutors who will use the laws we already have and protect the rest of us from these criminals.
I agree with you 100 percent and i think that there are enough eyes, cameras, and suspects that we could assist those tasked with our protection by providing information. As citizens we have a duty to assist, and to let these punks know that there are more of us than there are of them. This is what I believe, I think, and i hope.
Just sad. Crime is out of control
At best, this was a traumatizing reminder of last year’s events. At worst, someone is actively terrorizing D’Vonne’s family and friends. Either way, it’s completely unacceptable.