1 dead, 5 critically wounded in shooting near 3rd Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle

[icymist]

Source: Seattle Times

One person was killed and five people were critically wounded in a shooting near 3rd Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle on Wednesday, according to Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best.

Police were asking people to stay out of the area after the shooting, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m., and transit authorities closed and evacuated Westlake Station. The suspect fled the area and was still being sought as of about 6:15 p.m., Best said.

It was the third shooting downtown in less than two days. Earlier today, police shot and wounded a man in Belltown.

Tyler Parsons, 25, was working the register inside Victrola Coffee Roasters, at the corner of Pine and 3rd, when the shooting occurred. He said he heard no shots – they play music loud in the store, Parsons said – but customers started dropping to the ground.

Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/police-responding-to-shooting-near-4th-avenue-and-pine-street-reports-of-multiple-victims/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=owned_echobox_tw_m&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1579742384

[ManiacJoe]

1. One of the major bus transfer points in the city.

It is always a zoo in that area, which will not help the police any.

[icymist]

2. When I first moved out here I used to transfer the bus at that spot.

Sometime around 1995 it started getting real bad there. I then started to stay on the bus and ride to Fremont, walk a little and then catch the transfer bus to get to work. That area just got worse and worse, especially at night.

[ManiacJoe]

3. To clean up that area, the Seattle police need

a much larger presence. Unfortunately SPD has been understaffed for many years.

[DanieRains]

5. Talked To A Seattle Officer The Other Night He Said They Need More Cops

I told him if they don't lock up the crooks, the cops they have spend their time arresting the same people over and over.

I told him they need more jails.

He actually agreed.

[58Sunliner]

4. Sad. I used to work in Seattle years ago.

A saw a documentary about it's current struggles and it is scary.

[maxsolomon]

7. That doc is some Sinclair Broadcasting BS. Seattle isn't "dying".

Seattle property crime is at an all-time low.

"The Blade" (this one-block stretch of 3rd Ave.) has been an open-air drug market for literal decades, on a direct route between the Pike Place Market and the shopping district. 99.9% of the time, it's perfectly safe.

This was 2 Rude Boys choosing to end their lives as free men.

[LisaM]

6. Two blocks from where I work - we got stuck after hours for a while.

Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2020, 08:16 PM - Edit history (1)

My commute was completely mucked up, but I consider myself fortunate. I was almost in that exact vicinity when the shootings happened, but changed my mind, so was inside. Several people I know actually witnessed parts of it.

Seattle needs a lot more cops. We also need to stop allowing companies to bring in so many workers when there aren't the accommodations and the infrastructure to take care of them. When the culprits don't pay taxes to help with that infrastructure, the problem is worse.

I do wait for a bus there sometimes - I don't have a choice since they've slashed bus routes all over the city in favor of their monstrously expensive light rail and its wildly irregular path that doesn't really stop near anything. They kicked bus riders out of the bus tunnel in March 2019, and now the streets are a mess.