No Deathbed Confessions/Central District/Thurs April 21/1:10 am: Officer Melanchuk reports: "I was working a marked patrol vehicle in the city of Seattle with Officer Rivera. We were unit 3H3. We were stationary in the parking lot of the new Planned Parenthood on the 2000 block of East Madison Street. We were approximately 60 feet from the parking lot in which the incident took place. At approximately 0110 hours, we heard four gunshots coming from the area to the north. We arrived on the scene and saw the victim with an apparent gunshot to the head. The area was secured and turned over to homicide." The night after this shooting, I heard a rumor from a bartender at the Twilight Exit that the victim was able to talk as he died in the passenger seat of the car, which was parked in front of Deano's Cafe and Lounge. "He had a big hole in his head, but he was able to say what was on his mind," the bartender said as he poured me a glass of wine. For some astounding reason, the fatal wound didn't damage the victim's ability to form ideas and transmit them as words to the living world he was rapidly leaving.

If this rumor were true, it would mean the victim made a confession of some sort ("I have always hated George Wilson, though he thinks I'm his best friend"), revealed his killer's identity ("It was my barber"), or made a final request ("I owe the Greek a chicken; could you please remember to settle that debt"). I called the Seattle Police Department to determine if the victim could talk, and if so, what exactly were his dying words. The spokesperson for the SPD answered, "Yeah, and he was last seen leaving the morgue, just like in Resident Evil… If he did say anything to anyone, it was not known to us, but I think he was fairly dead when we got there. He died on the spot, or at least at Harborview Medical Center, but he was pretty much out. No deathbed confessions from this guy." The murder has yet to be solved.

Leaving Me/I-5/Tues May 3/4:09 am: Officer Pitts reports: "We were dispatched to Fairview Avenue North and Mercer Street regarding a possible gunshot wound. We arrived and found a Jeep parked on the exit ramp. Witness was outside the car; the victim was sitting in the rear left passenger seat. He was shot multiple times on the torso and was unresponsive. Seattle Fire Department arrived and started CPR. The victim was then taken to Harborview Medical Center from the scene. The victim expired at around 0615." According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the victim in this report, an Eritrean who has lived in America since he was eight, had pulled over on Pasadena Place Northeast ("a small side street under I-5") because he and the passenger, who is also an Eritrean, wanted some sleep. Suddenly a stranger opened the car door and fired several rounds at the driver. The passenger placed the bleeding driver into the back seat and furiously headed for the freeway in search of a hospital. The witness called 911 and was heard by the dispatcher screaming, "Oh my God! Oh my God!… You're not leaving me like this bro." The murder has yet to be solved.