Within 24 hours over Labor Day weekend, six people who went out in Belltown, WA for the last free night before school were shot in one of three separate shootings (Seattle Times); count the walk-ins and it’s seven (KIRO 7). But as far as luck goes, the three in Harborview Medical Center weren’t the unluckiest: the other three never made it there.
I. Denny Way and Clay Street
Sunday, September 6th had only been Sunday for 40 minutes before 4 people had been shot.
KOMO, an ABC affiliate, reports that the intersection south of the Space Needle had been taken over by a street racing sideshow with dozens of cars and roughly 100 spectators. KIRO 7 corroborates the takeover, and MyNorthwest furthers that “an altercation involving three people occurred on the street shortly before the shooting,” which led to the gunfire breaking out.
Two men were taken to Harborview, one shot in the chest and one in the abdomen (KOMO); a man and a woman later walked into Harborview with gunshot wounds (KIRO 7). The man shot in the chest, 20, succumbed to his injuries (FOX 13).
II. Third Avenue and Blanchard Street
Shortly before 2 AM, a woman sitting in a parked car near 3rd and Blanchard was shot in the head and torso by someone who fired several rounds into the vehicle and left (KIRO 7). She was 23 (FOX 13) and died at Harborview (KOMO). KIRO 7 furthers that it is unclear whether she knew the shooter; KOMO reports police consider the two shootings unrelated.
III. Elliott Avenue and Bell Street
The day’s shootings, however, would end not then but 22 hours later, one block from the waterfront (Free Times).
At 11:44 PM Sunday, a 17-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man were shot after what police describe as an “altercation” (KOMO) (MyNorthwest). The 21-year-old was taken to Harborview in serious condition; the 17-year-old died at the scene (FOX 13) (MyNorthwest).
There were more shot at Denny and Clay than at either later shooting, partially due to the crowd the sideshow had gathered around the shooter. Unlike Denny and Clay, however, the last shooting killed the youngest victim of the weekend.
Kelly Brown, a neighbor, told KOMO the neighborhood is “a constant battleground,” and describes what she saw: “I heard multiple gunshots…they were on top of their friend…he was just sheet white.”
Conclusion
For the high schoolers of Seattle, this weekend hits a little too close to home. Although none of these were school shootings, the last victim was 17, and Elliott and Bell is half a mile from where 7 were shot at Bite of Seattle six weeks ago. Like that Sunday, our youth were in close proximity.
No arrests have been made in any of the three shootings (FOX 13) (MyNorthwest). To the knowledge of One Shot, One Story, no news network has identified any of the 3 deceased yet.