At approximately 12:23 p.m. officers responded to the area of 21st Avenue South and Rainier Avenue South for 911 reports of shots fired.  No victims have been located however, a silver 2004 Acura MDX was damaged by gunfire on the right rear side of the vehicle.  The damaged Acura was parked at 22nd Avenue South and South Grand Street.

Witnesses told officers that the suspect vehicle, a silver Chevrolet Impala, fled the scene and got onto eastbound I-90.  The suspect(s) and suspect vehicle remain at large.

Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the whereabouts of the suspects/suspect vehicle is asked to call 911 or Seattle Police and refer to this incident.  Anonymous tips are welcome.

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

Just after 12:30 pm, the suspect walked into the Washington Federal Bank near Rainier Ave S. and 52nd Ave S. and demanded cash from bank staff.

During the robbery, the suspect—described by witnesses as a black male in his 30s, 5’2, 140 pounds, wearing a curly wig, a light brown or tan jacket and dark-colored pants—fired off a single round from his handgun before he fled.

No one was injured in the incident.

Six schools near the bank briefly went into shelter-in-place as officers searched for the suspect, who managed to slip away.

Police are investigating whether the suspect might be involved in at least two other recent robberies in the Seattle area.

We’ll update this post with more information/pictures when available.

UPDATE: Here are some incredibly grainy pictures of the robber. Zoom and enhance!

At 11:00 pm last night, officers were dispatched to 11 Avenue South and South Massachusetts Street to investigate a possible stabbing.  Officers arrived quickly and contacted the 52 year old male victim.  He stated that the suspect, a 20-year-old woman, is a friend and she was upset. They were talking about various issues that were upsetting her when she suddenly became angry and began punching his couch and then started hitting it with a golf club.  The victim got up to open the door to tell her to leave when she cut him on the arm with a knife.  The victim had a three inch laceration on his arm.  According to witnesses, the suspect then ran northbound on 12 Avenue South.

Despite the large police response, including a K-9 team and the assistance of the Sheriff’s helicopter, the suspect was not located.  Witnesses thought that the suspect may have cut herself as well, as officers located blood trails leading out three separate exits.  Officers recovered the knife and processed the scene.  The vicitm was treated at the scene by Seattle Fire and then transported to Harborview Medical Center for further treatment by ambulance.  The injury is not considered life-threatening.

The victim was walking along the Chief Sealth Trail, near Beacon Avenue S. and S. Orcas Street, at about 6:40 pm when she saw a group of four teenagers following her on the trail.

Two of the teens climbed onto a bicycle together and rode up to the woman, who was listening to music on her white iPhone 4s.

The teens tried to snatch the woman’s iPhone out of her hand, but only managed to knock the phone onto the ground.

The teenagers rode off without the phone and the woman kept walking down the trail.

Eventually, she noticed two other teenage boys following her along the trail and took off running.

One of the teens caught up to her, pushed her to the ground, grabbed her iPhone and fled.

The victim walked home and called 911 and was able to give police a good description of the suspects. Officers then spotted two of the teenage suspects near 21st and Orcas.

Officers searched the teens and, wouldn’t you know it, they found a white iPhone 4s in one suspect’s pocket. They asked him about the phone, and he claimed it was his.

However, he could not explain why there were pictures of the victim on his phone.

The victim was able to identify both suspects—a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old—and officers booked them into the Youth Service Center for robbery.

Just after 8:00 pm, the couple was walking in the 4700 Block of Beacon Avenue South when two unknown suspects came running up to them.  One of the suspects was holding a gun and demanded the husband’s wallet.  Fearing for her life, the wife ran across Beacon Avenue South trying to get some help.  The victim gave over his wallet and the suspect ripped a chain from his neck.  The two suspects then ran around the corner and got into a older, full sized sedan occupied by another suspect and sped off westbound, crossing Beacon, almost striking the wife in the road.

A number of officers responded to the location but unfortunately neither the car or the suspects were located.  The man and his wife were not injured.

The suspects were described as two black males, one is 6′ 2″, thin, armed with a handgun, wearing a black t shirt and blue jeans.  The other was 5’5″, medium build, wearing a black t shirt and jeans.  The car was described as an older full size sedan, with tinted windows, white with violet paint on the sides.

At approximately 10:53 a.m. officers responded to a shooting near 46th Avenue South and South Henderson Street.  According to the involved parties, the adult male victim and his friend had gone to a nail salon and broke a $100.00 bill.  They left the salon and walked eastbound in the alley to the north of the 4500 block of South Henderson Street.  Three unknown male suspects approached the victim and his friend and asked the victim if he could break a $100.00 bill.  The victim acknowledged he could and the two groups of men decided to walk to a stairwell to exchange money.  At that point the primary suspect pulled out a handgun and demanded all of the victim’s money.  The victim grabbed a hold of the suspect and the suspect’s gun discharged, striking the victim in the right hand.  The suspect grabbed the victim’s backpack (containing his money) and ran off westbound with the other two suspects.  The victim and his friend, who was not injured, ran off southbound.

Fire department medics responded to the scene and transported the victim, a 30-year-old man, to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

The primary suspect is described as a black male, medium-skinned, 5’5″ tall, thin build, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black North Face jacket, and carrying the victim’s large black backpack.  No description was provided on the other two suspects.

Officers conducted an area search for the primary suspect however, he remains at large.

At approximately 1:57 p.m. officers responded to reports of shots fired outside an Arby’s restaurant in the 600 block of South Michigan Street.  Preliminary investigation indicates that a 27-year-old male victim got into an altercation with two male suspects in the parking lot of the Arby’s restaurant.  The altercation escalated and one of the suspects shot the victim in the left arm.  Both suspects then fled the scene in a 1996 Chevy Blazer.  Although the victim and the suspects did not know each other, the victim’s associates (who were present) knew the suspects.

Fire department medics responded and treated the victim at the scene for his non-life-threatening injury.  The victim declined to be transported by ambulance and instead chose to have his friends transport him to an area hospital for follow up treatment.

Patrol officers developed information during the course of their field investigation that led them to a residence in the 1200 block of SW Myrtle Street.  Once there, officers saw that the suspect’s Blazer was parked in front of the residence.  Officers surrounded the house and made telephone contact with the suspects.  Both suspects subsequently surrendered to the officers and were taken into custody without further incident.  

The officers recovered the gun that is believed to be the one used in the shooting.  The firearm was submitted into evidence for further forensic analysis.   

Both suspects were booked into the King County Jail.  

Suspect #1, a 20-year-old male, was booked for Felony Assault.  

Suspect #2, an 18-year-old male, was booked for (Felony) Rendering Criminal Assistance.

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

For additional details about the incident go to http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/05/17/shooting-in-south-seattle-14/ 

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

Those red boxes are the result of a new SPD effort to take a more data-driven, Moneyball approach to policing using a new piece of software called PredPol.

“PredPol looks at crime patterns and helps SPD put officers in the right place at the right time to prevent crime,” says Sgt. Christi Robbin, who oversees the Predictive Policing program as part of the department’s 20/20 Initiative.  “The forecasts are location and time based. We’re not targeting people. This is about predictive policing and the crime itself.”

Now, officers at each of SPD’s five precincts will begin receiving those forecasts at the beginning of each shift and will spend spend at least two hours of their shifts patrolling those forecasted areas, in addition to responding to their regular workload of 911 calls.

While officers typically know the busy spots in their patrol beats, the Predictive Policing system is another tool to help officers keep better track and share information across different shifts about where crime is happening.

“As an officer, I may know a particular spot in a neighborhood has had some burglaries, but I might not intuitively know they’re regularly happening at 6pm on a Tuesday,” Sgt. Robbin says. “PredPol doesn’t replace intuition. It enhances intuition.”

Currently, the department has only tasked the Predictive Policing system—also used by police in other cities like Los Angeles and Tacoma—to forecast potential areas where property crimes like burglary, car prowling and theft might occur, but the program could be expanded to project forecasts for violent crimes as well.

While this new Predictive Policing program should be a helpful tool in SPD’s crimefighting efforts, the system is only as good as the numbers it has to crunch. That means it’s more important than ever for Seattle residents call 911 to report crimes or suspicious behavior in their neighborhoods. “The more 911 call data we have, the more accurate the program will be,” Sgt. Robbin says.

At approximately 1:57 p.m. officers responded to reports of shots fired in the 500 block of South Michigan Street.  Initial 911 calls reported the shots coming from inside a building.  Preliminary investigation indicates at least one victim was struck in the arm by a gunshot.

Fire department medics responded and treated the victim at the scene for his non-life-threatening injuries (the victim sustained a gunshot wound to the arm).  Friends of the victim transported him to an area hospital for follow up treatment.

One suspect is described as a light-skinned male, late teens, very thin, wearing a black hat and possibly a black shirt.  A second suspect is described as a white or Hispanic male, 18 to 20 years old, 5’10″ tall, thin build, dark blond hair, wearing an orange cap, blue jacket and dark pants. 

The suspects remain at large and may be riding in a black SUV.

This remains an active incident and patol officers are actively searching for the suspects.