Last week, Seattle police officers responded to 6,904 incidents across the city. Here are a few of the cases we highlighted on the SPD Blotter:
Few things are worse than having to stay after school. This is one of them. Last Friday, a teen attending an evening event at a north Seattle school—on 40th Avenue NE and NE 109th Street—got into an argument with five suspects out on the school’s playground. Two of the suspects pulled out pellet guns, and shot the teen in the buttocks, and the school went into lockdown shortly thereafter. The teen was not seriously injured in the incident.
One man’s creative (but poorly reasoned) attempt to keep his friend from driving drunk on April 28 landed both men in handcuffs. Just after midnight, a man called 911 and reported that someone had stolen his 2009 Audi in south Seattle. Patrol officers soon spotted the reportedly stolen Audi, and pulled it over. In fact, the car’s owner was sitting in the passenger seat. He told officers he had called 911 and reported his car stolen because he didn’t want his friend to drive his car. Spoiler warning: both the car’s owner and his friend—who ended up driving after all—were both intoxicated. After sorting out the confusing scene, officers arrested the Audi owner for false reporting, and arrested his friend for driving under the influence.
That same night in south Seattle, a group of suspects opened fire on the home of a medical marijuana grower after he refused to sell the suspects drugs without a prescription. Speaking of prescription drugs, the Seattle Police Department collected 697 pounds of expired and unwanted prescription drugs during National Drug Take Back Day.
Officers arrested two men following a huge brawl outside a Georgetown nightclub on April 29. Just after 2 am, the two suspects—39 and 40 years old—made some comments to several women outside the club. A 17-year-old man then confronted the suspects about what they had said. That confrontation quickly grew into a melee involving more than 30 people, and the male victim was hit with a tire iron and a hammer. Three women were also attacked during the incident.
The SWAT team pwnd a pack of pawn shop robbers in south Seattle on April 30. The group of four men and a woman walked into the pawn shop and used hammers to smash out the glass on several jewelry cases, before they fled to a home in nearby Columbia City. Patrol officers and the SWAT team arrived at the home and arrested four of the five suspects—two men, 22 and 23 years old, and two teens, 16 and 17 years old.
SPD’s Harbor Unit saved two hypothermic kayakers from the cold, choppy waters of Lake Union on April 30. Around 3 pm, someone called 911 after they heard two people screaming for help near Gas Works Park. Members of the Harbor Unit—which is based near Gas Works—found the kayakers and pulled them out of the water. Their kayak had apparently capsized and they had trouble swimming to shore. Both kayakers were already in the early stages of hypothermia when officers found them.