RAINIER BEACH – Police say a 15-year old was critically injured Thursday when he and another man were shot shot near the intersection of Rainier Avenue South and South Fisher Place.
According to Seattle Police Department spokesman Jeff Kappel, the teenager was hit in the torso but managed to stumble into the adjacent gas station parking lot at Safeway, where he collapsed.
“SFD medics responded to the scene and transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center (HMC) with life-threatening injuries,” said Kappel. “Sometime later a second victim, a 29-year-old male, showed up at HMC with gunshot wounds to the back.”
A subsequent manhunt was unsuccessful and the suspects remain at large.
Photo/KOMO News (RVP news partner)
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
I drove by this last night on my way home and they had the entire gas station cordoned off.
I was at this location the night before with my daughter, this is becoming incredibly scary to us in light of the shooting the other night where the suspect ran down the street right next to us and wasn’t found.
In this case, they have picked up a ‘person of interest’ in the shooting according to this story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46156893/ns/local_news-seattle_wa/ the suspects are still on the loose.
I had been loudly proclaiming that this neighborhood, despite the press, is getting better, not worse but I am starting to disagree with my own assesment at this point.
Notsosafeway. Someday we’ll get a mayor who sends out newsletters with larger initiatives to talk about than how many potholes he filled.
Facepalm at this. This neighborhood is hopeless.
Apparently it is still possible to get lead with your gas, in spite of EPA regs requiring unleaded fuel. … at least at gas pumps in Rainier Beach.
This is becoming the “old” Tacoma Hilltop Neighborhood. Watching all 3 local newscasts last night, noticed the SPD Lt. spokesperson said ” this happens everywhere.” No big deal anymore, no explanation. One would think the SPD Chief would come out to the scene and calm the nerves of the citizentry, but that’s asking too much.
@Julie…not sure how accurate that MSNBC report is since they say the woman shot on Jan 3 was “badly wounded.” I thought she was killed. Or are they referencing some other shooting? It’s getting hard to keep track.
What was the solution in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood? Any sort of crime prevention strategy? Or just the passage of time? Guessing the second one.
@GallowsHumor
I know your comment is kind of funny in a morbid sort of way, but it was funnier yesterday when it was original
“george 01.26.12 at 8:01 pm
I guess you still can get lead with your gasoline. I though the EPA outlawed that in the 1970?s.”
And in other news – check this out from Madrona
Just thought everyone might want to know about a carjacking that took place on Cherry Tuesday night. I was driving home from Madison Park on Tuesday night around 7pm, when I noticed a woman waving me down just before the corner of 34th and Cherry. I slowed down and rolled down my window slightly and she informed me that she had just been carjacked. I pulled over and helped her call her husband and the police.
She had been headed home on MLK from Columbia City when she took a right onto Cherry. Somewhere between 33rd and 34th, the car behind her tapped her bumper and she pulled over. According to the police, this a very common carjacking approach as a way to get you to pull over. Two men came to either side of her car and the man on the driver side tapped a gun on her window. They told her to put all of her belongings on the passenger seat and she got out of the car. She then crossed the street and started up 34th. She said she waved a number of cars down but no one stopped to help her. Luckily she was not harmed. The police have recovered the car and are checking for prints, etc. She does not know how long the car had been following her. The police are going to review the traffic cameras on MLK to see if they can get any further information.
YUK!
@Tom T – thanks for the heads up, and thanks for being the kind of person who will stop and help. It’s good to know you’re out there!
Does anyone know the condition of the 15 year-old? The “My Neighborhood Map” at Seattle.gov is showing a homicide.
As we listened to the helicopters hover over our neighborhood last night, my husband and I discussed the idea that SE Seattle seems to be getting worse. Not just based on recent media attention, etc., rather based on what we see on a daily basis in our hood. In addition to the increase in crime, there seems to be a general lack of regard for one another in a way that I have not experienced since moving here eight years ago.
Yes, this type of thing *can* happen everywhere, and sometimes it does happen in other Seattle neighborhoods and it rattles the nerves of its residents. Sadly, the reality is that it *does* happen here and no one seems to give a crap. It’s happened a lot this month alone, and while the media briefly covers the horrific crimes, they never follow up, and they never talk about the victim. (Other than “it was gang related…’nuff said”).
Our community is spectacular, and it is a disgrace that our city has appeared to have abandoned us in such a cold, heartless manner. In my opinion, we are essentially consenting to this disgrace by remaining silent.
I would encourage everyone to attend the Public Safety Meeting at Lakewood Community Center on Monday, February 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the Clubhouse on 50th and Angeline. South Precinct Captain Mike Nolan and other officers from the South Precinct have committed to being there, and Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell has been invited to attend, as he is chair of Public Safety. He has requested Chief of Police John Diaz and his command staff to attend as well. (They are not confirmed).
@Kathy and everyone else:
This is being investigated as assault according to Det. Jaimeson of the Seattle Police Public Affairs Unit. The 911 Incident Response Map is reflecting a numerical coding error in the initial Computer Aided Dispatch Report that was prepared by responding officers in the field, which automatically feeds this map. So the word description of the indicent as an Assault is correct. The picture of the stick figure on the map, which indicates a homicide, is not. They are correcting this. The victims of the Rainier Beach Safeway shooting are alive and improving at Harborview.
Thank you very much, George! As Dana said, “While the media briefly covers the horrific crimes, they never follow up, and they never talk about the victim.” We saw this with the young woman who was killed at Subway recently. I’m glad to hear that nobody died as a result of the shooting last night.
prior to the shooting I got out my car and headed into the library, there were alot of people across from the barber shop beating music and talking. Ten minutes later an argument brokeout and then gunshots. All this to say everyone there knows who the shooter was becouse they were all standing around talking before things turned sour. The word Snitch is outdated.people need to go ahead and give the police some help .
@Dana thanks for the information on the community meeting, I’ve sent it out to my neighborhood list-serve.
I heard the news thru one of my parenting listserves about all the terrible activity that is happening in SE Seattle. It’s crazy that none of this shows up on the local news! It’s sad to say, but I am not sorry that we sold our house and moved out of the neighborhood last spring. We lived in Rainier Beach for 8 years and participated in the neighborhood meetings, planning and improvement meetings and nothing changed. For a few years things got better, but the last few years things went downhill (following the recession) I would walk many times with my baby to this Safeway and the Library during safe hours of the day, and I have to thank God that he kept us safe. Good luck Rainier Beach, sorry I didn’t stick around, but its going to take a lot more than neighbors to make this a safer place.
@whatevernick–Tacoma put in alot of money to save the Hilltop Neighborhood. They created a strong neighborhood blockwatch program, sparked real estate development where the riff raff businesses packed up and left. Re-named “K” street to Martin Luther King, and increased police presence with a neighborhood storefront office. Quite a remarkable turnaround for a neighborhood once plagued by the crack epidemic, Crips gangs, murders and constant gunfire.
All jokes about Tacoma and monetary investment aside, but from what I understand the people/citizens there gathered up forces and pitched in with the blockwatch…so it’s not all about money like Trudy said.
I’m anti-Orwellian Big Brother, but I think some of the technological advancements might do many neighborhoods good. Federal Way (a.k.a. Felony Way as the cops call it) recently adopted a website called Safe City:
King5 article:
http://www.king5.com/news/crime/Neighborhood-blockwatch-gets-a-hi-tech-upgrade-138163419.html
Komonews article:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Federal-Way-residents-taking-high-tech-approach-to-crime-fighting-138174869.html
Someone should set up an anonymous website with known criminals w/ pictures, names, and locations that frequent the area, so you have some idea of who to avoid in the area. Or is that “unconstitutional” and people have to coddle criminals’ so-called rights? “But I swear Officiers, I’ve turned my life around! I haven’t mugged, assaulted, or sold drugs in weeks!” LOL, no wonder cops are so jaded sometimes…
It might be a good idea for businesses in the area to set up motion detecting cameras as has been suggested in another news article I can’t conjure up. Sure, it won’t deter all crime, but at least there’ll be footage of it. Or is the area already cammed up heavily?
From the MSNBC article: ““The person who shot the 15-year-old child here tonight, where did he get the gun from. That is the question,” says Taylor. ”
The question is, when do we start teaching our kids right from wrong again? They aren’t going to get it from our pop culture which glorifies all sorts of mayhem. Kids need to be taught that there is a moral order from their parents, and it needs to be reinforced by their churches and schools.
The ship isn’t going to magically rechart its course, and if it stays the present course, things will worsen.
It amazes me how much you read Belltown this and Belltown that and they seem to get all the attention.
Fu*k Belltown, We got Helltown.
Organize an Occupy Rainier valley and march the full length of rainier during evening rush hour. Get a thousand or so to march in protest of crime and lack of police presence and support. Carry light in honor of every innocent person lost. Send a message that you are taking back the valley. Get the mayors attention to do something. Start a Facebook page to communicate when and where.
I think I may be ready for Big Brother.
Has anyone noticed the amazing difference in coverage of the shooting at South Lake Union last night and the Rainier Beach shooting? This city is so full of hypocrites and their social justice bs.
@Tom T – sadly, Yes and Yes.
whatevercathy I love your idea..im with you
here’s a question– the other night, saturday, I was walking to my girlfriend’s place on Letitia after work around 12:30am. I got a call from her saying that there was a police car parked on Adams, warning that there were some muggers ambushing folks on Letitia with mallets.
fortunately, we had friends around who could give me a ride (normally neither of us drive) but I was wondering if anyone heard anything more about that?
What do you know – they actually arrested somebody for this. http://today.seattletimes.com/2012/02/suspect-arrested-in-rainier-avenue-double-shooting/