West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
Thanks to Jill for that photo of the lightning early this morning – she’s in Arbor Heights (which also had one of the best views of the lightning a few nights ago too), and you can see a few more pix on her Flickr page. Meanwhile, with tomorrow’s holiday, we’re all watching the forecast – today looks soggy but tomorrow and Saturday may be better — lots to do all three days, including the Seafair Pirates Landing at Alki on Saturday and the Alki Bathhouse art show/reception tonight (5-8 pm), with a chance to browse creations like this (thanks to Jana):
More on the Events calendar page (and for tomorrow’s plans – with helpful holiday info as well as activities – on our 4th of July page).
It started with a bus ride on the 37 – met at California/Alaska by West Seattle Junction Association executive director Susan Melrose (in sunglasses, at left). Last night, more than a dozen concierges from downtown hotels came to The Junction to find out more about places they can recommend their guests visit. From the bus stop, they set off on foot:
Next stop, champagne at Clementine, whose owner Linda Walsh (facing the camera at left) hatched the idea with Georgia Blu owner Krista Means:
The Junction contingent got Russell Hathaway of the Seattle Hotel Concierge Association (and Hotel Vintage Park downtown) to assemble the “tour group”; along with visiting other spots (we didn’t follow the whole tour), they had dinner at Ama Ama. Interesting side note: Several of the participants said visitors thinking about moving to Seattle are the ones who most often ask questions about our side of the bay.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Sherry:
I just wanted to tell you about a couple of incidents in West Seattle where good people have saved me from great difficulty caused by my own carelessness.
A few weeks ago, I set my computer bag down at the rear of my vanpool van while waiting for another rider to arrive with a key for the van. When he arrived, we jumped in the van and drove all the way to Redmond for work. When I opened the back of the van, I realized that I had left my laptop bag on the street (with my employer’s laptop in it, of course!). I sped back to West Seattle and found a message on my answering machine from my dentist: the kind young man who found my bag had found an appointment reminder in the bag, and called the dentist’s office to ask them to contact me and give me his phone number so I could retrieve my computer bag.
My office mate, who is from India, remarked that that is what he loves about the United States: If you lose something, people will always return it. Weeeelll, not necessarily, I said. I was very lucky that an honest person found my bag.
Then, apparently [Tuesday] night my wallet, containing my debit card and a credit card, fell out of my purse, either in the parking lot at the Jefferson Square Safeway, or on the street outside my house. I noticed that it was missing, but thought it must have fallen out in my car. [Wednesday] morning when I opened my front door to go and retrieve my wallet from the car, I found the wallet in my mailbox.
I was able to thank the young man who returned my computer bag in person. Whoever the kind person is who returned my wallet, THANK YOU!!
We have some wonderful people in West Seattle.
WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham has filed several updates in the past two-plus months about homeless encampments he has been finding, and investigating, while exploring West Seattle parks. Tonight, he writes about two encounters with people linked to them:Read More
Huge thanks to Joe Follansbee, a West Seattleite and tall-ships expert who took and sent those photos of the beauties sailing past Duwamish Head this afternoon — we got a couple tips (thanks to those tipsters too) but couldn’t get down to get pix in time, then were thrilled to receive these from Joe. He says the first is “the Lynx out of Newport Beach, Calif. It’s a replica of a War of 1812 privateer.” Second is “the Lady Washington, a replica of one of the first American vessels to visit what would later be Washington State.” (Seen in a WSB film favorite, “Pirates of the Caribbean”!) Third is “the Hawaiian Chieftain, which was inspired by 18th century South Seas trading ships.” (Joe is communications director for the last two.) All of course are headed to Tall Ships Tacoma (complete info on that here), along with the U.S. Coast Guard square-rigger Eagle, which we covered yesterday (here and here) and is seen below in a photo from before its departure this morning (thanks to JayDee for this pic taken from the Water Taxi):
Six days after the first city-organized public meeting about the two proposed misdemeanor-jail sites in West Seattle (photo above; complete WSB coverage here), the city sends word of two online updates: “written feedback” and video from the meeting, posted here, and what’s described as “a document describing the public forum format,” posted here (the format itself generated some controversy and complaints during last week’s meeting). The next scheduled city-organized meeting is July 12 at North Seattle Community College and is intended to focus on the Aurora site; WSB coverage of the jail-sites fight, stretching back to first word of the “final four” location list including the two WS sites, is archived here.
We mentioned this morning we had two questions out to the Seattle Police media unit – and now we have answers: First, the Cherokee used in the robbery (shown above as photographed by Scott C while it was being towed away last night) was NOT stolen; second, one of the four law enforcers who fired at the vehicle when its occupant refused to put down a gun WAS from the Southwest Precinct here in West Seattle, according to media officer Mark Jamieson — a patrol sergeant with 19 years experience. As is routine in such cases, he and the others involved (two from SPD and one from King County Sheriff’s Office’s Metro Transit detail) are on administrative leave. 6:02 PM UPDATE: Police also released more details today about the actual robbery and how the suspects knew each other, plus the fact that the suspect who was shot had been armed with a pellet gun. Here’s one account from the Times.
We saw the 911 call for “bark fire” at Westwood Village a short time ago; sounded too small to go. But Tyson just sent this firsthand account and it sounds like some folks deserve kudos:
I’m a daily reader of the West Seattle Blog and just thought I’d share something I just witnessed. Not exactly breaking news or anything but worth a note. Just walked out of the Westwood Village Barnes and Noble and saw a huge plume of smoke coming from the Target parking lot. I then noticed that one of the bushes used for landscaping was engulfed in flames and it was quickly spreading with help of the surrounding mulch. Target and Westwood Village security were very quick in responding to the fire as was the fire department.
No confirmation yet but speculation is that it might have been caused by a discarded cigarette – that sort of thing causes a lot of fires like that this time of year, so if you smoke, please be careful.
We told you recently about Feet First‘s Cart Project – offering discounted pull-carts like the one above to people in the Westwood Village area, as part of a pilot project to encourage people to walk to the store instead of driving. They’ve now set the pickup time – you have to live in the pilot-project area, and you should have received a doorhanger that you can bring along (see a copy of it here) – 3:30-7:30 pm today and each day next Monday-Friday, at Westwood Village QFC. You get the $90 cart for $15 if you pledge to walk at least once weekly to do grocery-shopping and agree to two surveys (initial and followup). Got questions? Call 206/652-2310. If you’re outside the pilot-project area, here’s another way to get a discounted pull-cart – as reported here a week and a half ago, Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) was inspired by the Cart Project and decided to offer discounts on their “shopping trolleys” to shoppers who mention it.
In our story last month about the renovation work that’s closing Southwest Pool till fall, we mentioned adjoining Southwest Community Center would have to close for a week here and a week there because of the project. SWCC just told us the next closure is next week: July 7-12, possibly a little longer. EARLY THURSDAY UPDATE: Junior Kitiona from SWCC sent more details – the closure is likely to stretch into the week of July 14th; how far, they won’t know till they get there – it’s because of the electrical-vault changeover mentioned in the pool-renovations article linked earlier in this post. We’ll keep you up to date on when the center is ready to reopen.
This morning, we mentioned tonight’s Neighborhood Center volunteer event in High Point. Also in the hours ahead: Youngstown Arts Center is offering free events for youth Wednesdays at 4 pm, starting with All-Access Open Studio for young artists, 4 pm today. Heading south from there, North Delridge Neighborhood Council invites everybody with an interest in ND to join its nonthly meeting @ Delridge Library (excellent a/c there, we hear), 6:30 pm. At South Seattle Community College, the Southwest District Council — representatives from neighborhood groups and other key organizations in the part of West Seattle that the city considers the “Southwest District” — meets in the board room at 7 pm; City Light and Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle have spots on the agenda. Also at 7, at C & P Coffee south of The Junction, West Seattle Cool Moms are having their July get-together, with a presentation including ways to live a less-toxic lifestyle.
WSDOT has sent a bulletin about trouble on southbound I-5 through downtown, blocking three lanes just south of the West Seattle Bridge exit, currently causing a SEVEN-MILE-LONG backup. So if you happen to be reading this from points north, avoid I-5 TFN. 1:37 PM UPDATE: The crash scene is cleared but the backup is 9 miles and will probably take a while to thin out, so we’d still suggest alternate routes.
The traditional WSB sponsor welcome goes out today to Village Green Perennial Nursery, featured in this month’s edition of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine as a “Community Treasure” (page 47!). Village Green is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. Owner Vera Johnson is a fully organic gardener, specializing in perennials and old roses, growing with soils blended using compost made at Village Green. Of course, organic gardening doesn’t just involve the soil – it involves the rest of the ecosystem, and Vera and her staff extend their customer service to talking with customers about natural pest management, including knowing which plants atttract the “good bugs,” which in turn keep the “bad bugs” away. Village Green, in fact, has its own bee colony and three chickens who help keep potential pests in check. The plants Vera sells are all locally grown by independent growers; she notes that means you get fresher, livelier plants that will adapt more quickly to your garden. She also wants you to know she knows gardens and gardeners, and uses that knowledge in her approach to customer service. Village Green’s nursery grounds stretch out behind the green house you see at the upper right of the photo above; it’s at 10223 26th SW (map), phone 206/767-7735, open Thursdays-Sundays – hours are on this page of the Village Green website, which has a lot to explore. We thank Village Green Perennial Nursery and all WSB sponsors, listed on this page along with information on how to join them.
Fog and low tide don’t mix very well. Just ask the two guys who are sitting in that powerboat right now, waiting for the tide to come back in so they can get back out on the water. Thanks to the person who called to let us know about this; we walked out to ask the stranded boaters if they’re OK, they said yes, “we just got lost” while heading out on the first day of crab season (not-yet-deployed baskets were stacked in their boat). Onlookers (like the person standing by the boat’s stern) are also checking on them; meanwhile, ferry foghorns are sounding just offshore, and it looks like the fog’s pulling back. (The tide bottomed out about 20 minutes ago, so they shouldn’t be stuck too much longer. Tomorrow at 11:39 am, by the way, the tide’s almost as low as the mega-low tide in early June, so boaters – and tidewalkers! – take note.)
Wells Fargo at Admiral/California has reopened after the harrowing events of yesterday (WSB all-day coverage here). Meantime, we are following up with Seattle Police on 2 questions: A commenter asked whether the gold Cherokee (shown here) was stolen; alsoo, we wondered if any of the three officers who had to fire into it downtown happened to be from the Southwest Precinct, since the last official media update said “various precincts.” The SPD media unit is handling inquiries on yesterday’s events; Officer Mark Jamieson is looking into both questions and we’ll update this post when we hear back.
That’s nationally renowned activist Van Jones, talking about how High Point’s new Neighborhood Center is going to set a national precedent, during his Seattle appearance in May. (That’s actually the third of three videos from his speech; part 1 is here, part 2 is here.) Tonight is your next chance to get involved with the Neighborhood Center and its “green revolution,” looking ahead to its groundbreaking next month – tonight there’s an orientation/training session for volunteers. First, find out more about what’s happening with the project — read the article sent to us by Cathy Cooper, then check out several different ways to help with NH:Read More
Here are a few things we just didn’t get to – more video from the Coast Guard tall-ship arrival (including a chopper flyby), baby announcement, new sign:Read More
(first video clip added 10:31 pm)
ORIGINAL REPORT: Heavy rescue callout at Marine View/SW 101st; on the way to check it out. (Here’s a map.) That call frequently involves car crashes; listening to the scanner to see if we can pick up any info before our crew arrives. 9:55 PM UPDATE: First update from the scene – a car heading westbound on SW 100st hit a parked car at 46th SW (map), pushing that car down an embankment/bluff onto Marine View Drive; the westbound car then went airborne and landed upside down, also on Marine View Drive, at 101st — and the driver got out and ran away; a search for the driver is under way now — all this, according to the person who owns the parked car that was hit. Marine View Drive is closed in that vicinity, but SW 100th is open until you get to MVD. 10 PM UPDATE: The fleeing driver reportedly headed southbound on Marine View, toward the Endolyne area. 10:08 PM UPDATE: New info from police and witnesses – TWO suspects fled the car, described only as “in their mid-20s.” 10:27 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Cheryl in the comments for the correction – the parked car is the one that landed upside down (you’ll see in the video we’re adding shortly); the white car is the one that hit it, from which the suspects fled. 10:50 PM UPDATE: Two clips now added – closer view of the cars atop the post, wider shot here (from the top of the embankment both went down). We’ll check back on Marine View Drive and suspect-search status in a bit; not hearing any updates on the scanner so far.
11:28 PM UPDATE: Cheryl reports in the comment section that both cars have been cleared and the road’s being cleaned up. 1 AM UPDATE: Marine View Drive is clear and fully reopened. No word of any arrests; we’ll check with the precinct later this morning. THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Southwest Precinct Sgt. Jeff Durden says both suspects – a man and teenage boy – were arrested.
It’s the last entry in our all-day multiple-update running report on the situation that started as an armed robbery at the Admiral/California Wells Fargo and ended with police shooting a suspect downtown – but in case you missed it there, Spring Street is open again (photo above is from about an hour ago, nobody much left but TV trucks getting ready for 10/11 pm updates) – same spot from which Sharonn Meeks sent this photo at lunchtime (used in our earlier coverage):
Thanks again to everyone who contributed photos, video, information, and other comments to today’s updates. If we learn anything else significant tonight, we’ll add it to this post; tomorrow we plan to start a new one with an update on the bank, assuming it reopens for business in the morning. 9:57 PM UPDATE: P-I talked with the mother of the uninjured suspect, who is now in jail. 10:36 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Scott C (who says thanks in turn to friend Jeff for helping!) for sending this photo of the suspects’ Jeep Cherokee – he happened to pull up next to the “tow” truck as it was driving off, tonight after 5 pm:
EARLY WEDNESDAY ADDENDUM: Kevin in Arbor Heights just sent us this photo of a sign he saw outside a bar near the shooting scene:
If you’ve noticed activity at the Junction Plaza Park site (42nd/Alaska), here’s what’s up – plus a question you might be able to answer:Read More
(USCG Eagle, photographed from Duwamish Head viewpoint, added 4:49 pm)
We are continuing to update the “West Seattle bank robbery leads to downtown gunfire” story. Also, we are at Duwamish Head watching for the Coast Guard tall ship to come into view. (3:45 PM UPDATE: Looks like it’s coming around Magnolia now; 4:24 PM UPDATE, well in view now – though its sails aren’t up – and fireboat is out too.) But we are working on other news too, starting, in this post, with the big news from Starbucks – 600 company-operated stores to close this year. So far, NO LIST AVAILABLE – but this “message from Howard” just posted at starbucks.com after a 2:30 pm conference call says that all stores will know “by mid-July” if they are staying open or closing. (A commenter at starbucksgossip.com claims word’s due tomorrow.) The earlier news release says more than two-thirds of those that will close are stores that have opened in the past couple years.
New info today about the new pedestrian flags at 3 West Seattle spots, including replacement of stolen ones:Read More
(updated info, photos, video being added frequently to the bottom of this post – as well as comments with new info and links – thanks to everyone for helping co-create the updates, and keep refreshing)
(photo added 11:43 am, TV crew shooting door at original robbery scene @ Wells Fargo)
ORIGINAL POST: Just in from Seattle Police: A bank robbery in the 2300 block of California; the suspect was in a brown wig, sunglasses, black mask, black dress, police are looking for a “black Jeep Cherokee driven by a black male.” Call 911 with any tips. (Address check suggests that’s Wells Fargo; we’re headed that way to find out more.) 10:48 AM UPDATE: Confirmed on scene, it’s Wells Fargo, with a note on the door saying they’re temporarily closed for “an emergency.” (photo below added at 12:09 pm) We’re told by a nearby businessperson that one suspect may have been caught on The Bridge – checking that with police – might explain why only one patrol car is at bank.
11 AM UPDATE: Police confirm two suspects have been caught, outside West Seattle – one on Yesler, one on Spring.
11:05 AM UPDATE: Playing out in the comments right now – there’s been a gunbattle of some sort downtown. As a result, traffic is backing up on The Viaduct since it’s in the Seneca vicinity – avoid heading that way if you can. We’re now listening to the scanner and you’re going to want to avoid Spring/Seneca entirely, judging by what we’re hearing. Will continue updating as we hear more.
11:13 AM UPDATE: Scanner is talking about at least one person having been shot. Channel 7 tv has some aerial coverage right now. Our field crew is back out at the Wells Fargo branch where this all started, and Channel 4 has a crew there too. More to come.
11:21 AM UPDATE: Can’t stress enough, stay away from this part of downtown – sounds like absolute chaos/gridlock down there with so many police units involved, streets blocked off, etc. Channel 7 speculates that the shooting victim in an aid car is one of the suspects.
11:30 AM UPDATE: Citywide media is now swarming the original bank-robbery scene at Admiral/California – KING’s chopper sighted as well as somebody in a channel 13 jacket. Still awaiting a briefing there.
11:37 AM UPDATE: Some of the restrictions downtown are being loosened – we”re hearing pedestrians will soon be allowed through part of the area closed down (2nd/3rd/Seneca/Spring seems to be the epicenter of all the downtown activity).
11:49 AM UPDATE: Police have decided to do a combined briefing downtown with info about this robbery and the downtown shootings. We will monitor that and post updates here. Should also have more visuals from robbery scene (including interview with nearby witness) shortly. That witness told us that the robbers parked their vehicle on the California side at the bus stop – the side shown in this photo we just received from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli:
12:08 PM UPDATE: TV reports that the area downtown is likely to be cordoned off a few more hours – so for those who work downtown or were planning to go there, beware.
12:26 PM UPDATE: This link just added in comments from “Fort Cloudy” – video where you can reportedly hear the shots (we haven’t had a chance yet to view it ourselves).
12:31 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Patrick for sending this cameraphone photo from downtown – looking down at one of the areas where you can see multiple police vehicles:
12:40 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Charles Moore for this pic from downtown:
12:52 PM UPDATE: Listening to SPD media officer Mark Jamieson recounting what happened – robbery at Wells Fargo was 10:10 am – officers “located the vehicle as it was leaving West Seattle” and “followed” it to Capitol Hill where in Broadway/Yesler vicinity, one suspect got out (and was arrested), then vehicle went back downtown where officers tried to get the second suspect to leave the vehicle, he didn’t, they opened fire. Jamieson does not know the condition of that suspect, who is being treated at Harborview for gunshot wound(s) – when we heard the scanner traffic earlier, it sounded like at least one bullet had hit him in the neck. No other major injuries reported, possibly one person hurt by flying glass during the downtown shooting. We also just heard scanner traffic about the “dye pack” from the robbery but didn’t hear where.
1:02 PM UPDATE: Police say that they will keep the block around the shooting scene downtown – approx. 1st/Spring – closed for at least a few hours. The Wells Fargo branch back here in West Seattle at California/Admiral is expected to be closed for the rest of the day. Next door at Museum Quality Framing, Robert (who didn’t want to give his last name) saw the robber – though he didn’t realize that’s what was happening, as he says people park in the bus stop area all the time – here’s part of his interview with several media crews (including WSB):
Robert didn’t think the suspect was wearing a dress; looked to him more like “baggy pants.” Meantime, the P-I notes this branch has been robbed a few times before; here’s an archive story from 2006.
1:31 PM UPDATE: We are going to start posting some other news atop the page (jumping after the first line so this story doesn’t move too far down) but we will continue to update this post when new information is available, particularly any updates on downtown traffic – since the commute is just a few hours away. We are also monitoring the citywide media sources that are also covering this story so that if someone else reports a significant development we will add a note about it (with attribution, of course!) here.
1:37 PM UPDATE: No sooner do we say that, when Sharonn Meeks sends some photos from downtown, where she says there’s still a “lot of activity” centering on 1st and Spring – including onlookers (second shot):
2:22 PM UPDATE: One TV crew left at robbery scene when last we went by (channel 4; they do news at 4 pm). Channel 7 has posted its raw downtown aerial video online, about 8 minutes worth, which started even before police opened fire on the vehicle; see it here.
2:39 PM UPDATE: The police media unit has posted an update with a full summary of this morning’s events. Noteworthy details include the fact they’re definitely calling the Wells Fargo stickup “a takeover-style robbery” in which the robber was armed and ordered everyone down on the floor, also the fact the suspect who was still in the car by the time it got down had shown a handgun repeatedly before officers opened fire. The one who was arrested earlier had gotten out of the vehicle at 1st and Yesler after the vehicle had traveled onto I-5 from the West Seattle Bridge (NOT onto The Viaduct? eyewitness reports seem to dispute that) and is being “processed” before expected booking into the King County Jail, according to the update from media unit Officer Renee Witt, who also says the officers iinvolved in the shooting were three Seattle Police officers “from various precincts” and one King County sheriff’s deputy, all described as “veteran” officers. No word so far on the condition of the robbery suspect who was shot in the neck. (We will watch the online jail register to see if we can get some info on the non-injured suspect.)
3:19 PM UPDATE: Times says the suspect who was shot is in critical condition.
3:59 PM UPDATE: Sharonn Meeks advises Spring Street is still closed between 1st and 2nd. The city is not expecting to issue official road-closure updates since it’s still a police scene, but we are monitoring traffic reports so we can tell you what we’re hearing – those of you who are downtown, your updates will be helpful too.
4:12 PM UPDATE: The Times says the FBI has identified the two suspects – 50-year-old Douglas Michael Cox and 43-year-old Kevin V. Palmer. We’re checking publicly available databases to see if either has West Seattle ties; Palmer has voter registration – from 2000; his reported convictions must have been later – linked to a South Seattle address. Not finding Cox yet. (He is the one who was shot.)
4:59 PM UPDATE: According to the King County Jail register, Kevin V. Palmer’s full name is Kevin Vernett Palmer. Meantime, the shooting scene downtown is still closed to traffic.
5:12 PM UPDATE: In addition to being booked for investigation of robbery and eluding, Palmer is also being held for a “failure to appear” warrant in another case. The records of that case aren’t available via the online source we use, so we don’t have details. Meantime it looks like Cox’s background traces mostly to Eastern Washington, so we’re still not finding West Seattle links to either suspect prior to today’s heist.
7:03 PM UPDATE: Not having much luck finding out if the scene downtown has reopened yet, so unless word comes in within the next 15 minutes or so, we’re probably just going to head down and check for ourselves. Channel 5, meantime, reported in the 6:30 news that one of the suspects had barely been out of prison a month after another bank-robbery conviction. Their online report also says the FBI is now saying the robber was NOT wearing a dress (if you scroll back up to our video clip with Robert at the frame shop next door, he said it was baggy pants, not a dress).
8:14 PM UPDATE: We’re downtown and the scene’s clear, Spring St. is open again. Two TV trucks and one police unit in sight, but no other obvious evidence of what happened earlier today.
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