Another nightlife burst of gunfire brought a swarm of Seattle Police to the area outside nightclubs and the new Voodoo Doughnuts just off Pine at the base of Capitol Hill early Sunday. No victim was found at the scene.
A fight and then gunfire were reported fired just after 2 AM as East Precinct police units streamed to the area near Still Liquor and the Vice Seattle nightclubs in front of the new doughnut shop. Arriving officers reported no victims at the scene but found multiple shell casings on the ground along the west side of Minor just south of Pine, according to East Precinct radio updates.
As Seattle Fire staged nearby to respond, police also checked nearby hospitals and Harborview for any reports of gunshot wound victims being dropped off. No victims were immediately located.
As officers locked down Minor to collect evidence, police fanned out in the area looking for a group of six reportedly involved in the fight including the shooting suspect who was described as wearing green or yellow athletic shoes and a sports jersey with the number 2 on its back.
During the response, police were called to the 1500 block of Broadway where a group in a vehicle had reportedly flashed an “AK-47” style rifle at security amid Pike/Pine crowds. SPD stopped the involved vehicle at the Broadway and Pike 76 station but reported no firearms were located. One person was reported taken into custody.
UPDATE 1/13/2024: SPD has posted details of the Broadway/Pike traffic stop and says one adult was arrested and several firearms were seized. Officers also recovered “two black ski masks and three blue bandanas” inside the vehicle,” SPD says:
East Precinct officers arrested a man for assault and recovered three handguns during a vehicle stop early Saturday morning, Jan. 11.
At 2:39 a.m., officers were patrolling near 10th Avenue and East Pike Street when they were flagged down by victims who reported that the occupant of a silver vehicle had pointed a gun at them. Officers observed a car matching the description driving slowly directly in front of their patrol vehicle and initiated a stop at a gas station in the 1500 block of Broadway.
Four occupants exited the vehicle, all of whom were detained due to the weapon report. The driver, a 19-year-old man, and three male passengers ages 14, 19, and 20. A routine records check revealed no warrants, though both adult passengers had prior violent felony history.
The 19-year-old driver was identified as the suspect who pointed the gun at the victims and was arrested for assault. The car was impounded, and officers obtained a search warrant.
During the vehicle search, officers recovered three handguns, all with extended magazines. One handgun appeared to have been modified with a “switch” that allows it to be converted from semi-automatic to fully automatic. Another handgun had its serial number filed off. Officers also found two black ski masks and three blue bandanas inside the vehicle.
The Homicide/Assault Unit is handling the investigation. The suspect was booked into King County Jail on charges of second-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Officers were also responding to a large fight outside Neighbours across from the vehicle stop during the chaotic last call rush in the area.
Pine and Minor was the scene of a nightlife shooting in November that shattered glass at Still Liquor and sent one man to the hospital. Another shooting in January also left Still’s glass busted.
In early 2023, Mint Lounge on the Pine side of the block was permanently closed after pressure from surrounding businesses and city and Seattle Police officials over nightlife gun violence in the area.
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
Will never understand why the city invites these lowlifes from the suburbs to come into our neighborhood so they can shoot the place up. Build these night clubs in Spanaway or Everett.
Close our borders! The migrants crossing from Pierce County are destroying our city. MSGA!
Seattle calls it “revenue”.
Equity. And our neighbors on Capitol Hill mostly won’t just come out and say they want rid of the problems driving these shooting incidents. Want rid of and want laws enforced on. They won’t do it, because the minute they do, it’ll look like they’re being pro-police. And we can’t have that.
give me a break. the previous problems on this block, mint lounge and before that baltic room, left only after YEARS of repeated complaints by those neighbors. you are maliciously conflating this non-existent group refusing to condemn shootings with people saying there is no simple policing-based solution for a national homelessness and drug epidemic. it’s wildly disingenous.
Their entire thing is soapboxing in the only place they feel comfy, online, and basically sets impressions of the neighborhood based entirely on people like me.
Kent and Lynnwood feel left out.
We have a new Mint lounge situation. Time for those dumps to be shut down too if it’s going to lead to monthly shootings. What a mess.
This area around Broadway between Pike and Pine seems to be a magnet. The park, 76 station. That area-ish.
It seems the cops are “around here”. Because when that kid was shot there were 3-4 cops there in under 2 mins. A couple seemed to almost rise out of the asphalt like a sunflower in summer.
The plain wrappers and plain clothes are around too I bet. I don’t think they fully have a handle on it yet. I really think visibility is a big deal. Park an armored vehicle down here. A digital sign telling you your speed. “SODA ZONE” signs on every pole…lol
The flags are sooper ratty on the poles. They look like dystopia.
This occured outside of the “SODA ZONE” six blocks away from Broadway and Pike/Pine, what are you even talking about?
If you take norw of a couple things it may become clearer.
One? I was talking to Hillary, not you.
Two? I was talking about this…
“This area around Broadway between Pike and Pine seems to be a magnet. The park, 76 station. That area-ish.”
As a comparison.Not misplacing the original event.
Did you know that 20% of all adult Americans are functionally illiterate?
Seattle’s Progressive “catch and release” policies taken up to the club level. An entire club full of people for whom “catch and release” will be the likely option.
Ban all guns.
Night culture meets morning as the VooDoo Donuts line forms at 6 am. That corner has been bad for years, given its proximity to I-5 and the ease with which people congregate after-hours there who don’t live in the area.
Why do the nightclubs in that area always have shootings? You don’t hear about other clubs having that problem, at least not as frequently.
I’m assuming that when Mint Lounge closed their patrons simply went around the corner to Still Liquor & Vice, taking guns and violent behavior with them.
I’d suggest writing to the LCB, city council, and mayor to complain but even if these places close, the people, and their violent behavior, will just go to another club in the neighborhood. What we need there is an on-duty police presence on Melrose whenever these two places are open. After a few weeks maybe the “gang bangers” will get the hint and go away. But I doubt it.
straight nightclubs are THE WORST
Bored teenage gangster-wannabes driving around the neighborhood on a Saturday night with several mini-machine guns and ski masks in their car – what could possibly go wrong!?
When the former baltic room first opened it was a gay bar called Kid Mohair it never had a shooting that I can recall.Gay bars don’t have shootings unless it’s some homophobe. The hill has become less gay.
MAGA! Make America Gay Again.
It never had shootings for what 15 years as Baltic room. It’s just a new time. The kids are fucking broken from covid, out of control. they don’t believe in institutions and think that they have a future. They’re just fucked.