Two men are being held in connection with a bizarre incident on Friday night near North Seattle Community College (NSCC), and It appears one of them has been on Slog before.
At about 9:30 p.m. Friday night, police began receiving reports of gunfire near NE 92nd Avenue and 5th Avenue NE, not far from the North Precinct. Officers arrived on scene and immediately heard 9-10 “rapid fire rifle rounds” being fired over I-5 from a wooded area just west of the freeway, court documents say. Police called in the Guardian One helicopter, K9 units, and the SWAT team, and took two men in to custody.
The day after the incident, police searched the woods near NSCC and found “military style encampment,” containers of ammunition, an AK-47 assault rifle, pieces of other firearms, and a “Samurai sword,” court records say.
According to court and jail records, Michael Lujan—who was arrested following a scuffle with police in the University District two years ago—is being held in connection with the incident.
In November 2007, Lujan and another man, Mark Hays, got into a scuffle with police after the two men jaywalked across 45th and University in front of an unmarked SUV. Police contacted the men, the situation escalated, Hays was taken to the ground and beaten by officers. Lujan was arrested and charged with obstruction. An internal investigation later found that police had used excessive force, and Lujan was found not guilty. Video of the incident can be found here.
On Friday night, Lujan was arrested on the east side of I-5 after running across the freeway to flee from police. He was arrested shortly after police arrived at the scene and provided officers with information about another man who was later found hiding in the woods.
The other man, a 31-year-old NSCC student, was arrested in the woods near I-5 after a two hour standoff with police. When police took the man into custody, he told officers that he expects”to be railroaded” and, according to court records, told police that “If I had wanted to shoot officers, you would have had some dead cops.” The 31-year-old man then requested he be put on suicide watch, records say.
According to the King County Prosecutor’s office, the 31-year-old man has a previous felony conviction for theft, making him ineligible to own a firearm.
Both men are being held in the King County Jail, but prosecutors haven’t yet filed charges against the 31-year-old man. The city attorney’s office has declined to file charges against Lujan. Prosecutors and police still haven’t said why the men might have been firing guns in the woods near I-5.
maybe they were firing guns near i-5 because they thought no one would hear them.
beaten for jaywalking, too. only in seattle!
If the cops had beat him into a coma then we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.
What’s more dangerous?
A) Urban golfing with plastic(?) golf balls on Pike/Pine.
B) Shooting in urban woods near I-5 with an AK-47.
Please forward your answers to Tom Carr.
It begs the question; were the undercover offers there specifically to catch jaywalkers? Sad.
Also, shooting guns in the city? WTF, idiots.
Wow! Only a tiny fraction of the population is beaten up after an escalating confrontation with the police. And only a tiny fraction of the population goes postal with an AK-47. So it’s pretty astoundingly, stupendously unlikely that both would happen to the same person.
Unless, of course, those two events don’t sort independently. Hmm.
File under:
How To Make a Home Grown Terrorist – in Your Own Backyard!
Evidently police treatment of Lujan led to irreversible brain damage.
They released him at noon today… odd.. you think with 6 obstructing and 3 assault charges they’d hold him for longer.
if he’s out, call him up, stranger!
@9 If he’s actually released, I want to beat the shit out of that asshole. The shooting was a couple hundred yards from my house.
Additionally, NSCC is across the street from the SPD North Precinct, so the stupidity is monumental.
@2, 5, 7: it wasn’t Lujan that was beaten, it was some other guy named Hays.
“Prosecutors and police still haven’t said why the men might have been firing guns in the woods near I-5.”
The obvious unironic answer for this is that at least one of them is mentally ill and should probably receive treatment.
@8-
“They released him at noon today… odd.. you think with 6 obstructing and 3 assault charges they’d hold him for longer.”
Maybe it’s the same genius who let that monster Kalebu loose?
The opening paragraph had me thinking that maybe Mr Poe had gone off the deep end…
Those guys are real lucky they didn’t go out like the unfortunate young man on new years eve in the U District-e.g., via a cops bullet.
As johnny Cash said, “don’t take your guns to town”, especially if your intent is to act like a real dipshit when you get there.
“Those guys are real lucky they didn’t go out like the unfortunate young man on new years eve in the U District-e.g., via a cops bullet.”
Another guy who wasn’t a direct threat but should’ve received psychological help before he did something stupid/suicidal.
I suspected Lujan was an ass after he got into trouble jay-walking. Seriously, who the hell gets arrested for jay-walking? Yeah, the cops had to be rather douchey, but really let’s be honest: It takes two to tango. Mr. Lujan seems to enjoy being the center of police attention. Perhaps he’s trying to make some sort of social statement. Maybe he has a persecution complex, but the man is an asshole idiot.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the arrests of jerkoffs.
If they actually published what really happens, then youd have a clue who the real terrorists are.