At approximately 7:30 pm last night, East Precinct officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of 26th Avenue and East Spring Street. When officers arrived they located several spent 9mm shell casings on the north side of the intersection. They contacted a witness who stated that he heard 6-8 gunshots. The witness also stated that right after he heard the shots he saw a black male in his twenties, wearing a black sweatshirt and dark pants running eastbound on East Spring from 26th Avenue.
The officers conducted a thorough area check for the man seen running and any possible victims related to the shots fired, but no one was located. The seven shell casings found at the scene were collected and submitted into evidence.
In a separate shots fired call, officers responded to a parking lot in the 2800 Block of East Cherry Street just before 10:00 pm. One of the officers actually reported hearing 7 shots fired in the area just before the 911 call came in.
Officers responded and met with a victim in the parking lot at 28th and Cherry who told them the following:
She had just pulled into the parking lot with her infant daughter and was preparing to enter an apartment building when she heard several shots fired. She looked toward the southwest corner of the building where the noise was coming from and she saw a black male wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and covering his face with another t shirt, firing a handgun toward her direction. The victim stated that she began honking her horn and yelling as loud as she could to attract attention and then saw the suspect run behind the building. The woman then called 911. She told officers that she did not recognize the man and she did not believe there was anyone else in the parking lot at the time. Neither the woman or her baby were injured.
A number of officers had responded to the call and containment was set up. A K-9 team responded and began a track, but the suspect was not located. Officers located a car in the parking lot parked one stall south of the victim’s with a bullet hole in the driver’s side window and front passenger side window. The registered owner was contacted by police and informed of the damage. The victim’s car sustained damage on the rear passenger side door. Another car in the lot appeared to have been struck in the front radiator. Officers recovered 7 shell casings from the southwest corner of the building where the victim said the suspect was standing. The spent shell casings and other items of evidence were collected.
In the third shots fired/shooting incident, officers responded to a residence in the 700 Block of 20th Ave just before 3:00 am this morning. In that case, several 911 calls came in stating that shots were being fired in that block, and one actually came from inside the house stating that the house was being shot at. Officers arrived and contacted four people inside the house. Fortunately no one was injured, but officers did find at least fifteen bullet holes in the front of the house and one bullet hole in the side window. Inside the house, officers recovered five bullet slugs and one fragmented slug from the next door house. Across the street on the west sidewalk officers found twenty-four 9mm spent shell casings.
Officers spoke with the occupants of the house. They all stated that they did not hear or see anything other than the shots. Officers interviewed everyone at the scene and collected all of the evidence. Detectives will handle the follow up investigations. If anyone has any information on any of these incidents, they are urged to contact Seattle Police.