Comments

1
So Luby was involved?
2
Shit! I was right near there just before that!
3
Someone from one of the mental health places in that area?
4
I just saw the coroner's van pull up.
5
I live across the street from one of the ends of the alley.

There have been cop cars here since about 10:40. I had no idea what was up until 15 minutes ago.

I feel nauseous.
6
People are pretty upset Bristol Palin is still dancing.
7
This is terribly tragic news, and some of the comments here are equally gruesome. My thoughts are with the poor victim and his friends and family.
8
So.... that's really gross.
9
I knew it wouldn't be long before Matt Luby lashed out at someone. He is a danger to society.
10
Heard it. Saw it. Less than a block from my house. Feel sick and numb.
11
@10 You actually saw it happen?

Let me know if you need anything.

I'm going to go get a drink and eat lunch.
12
man, you people in Seattle are nuts!
13
Stay classy CD!

Pick axes don't kill people, people kill people.

14
Waitaminute: so at 10:23 this morning Charles posts about "miners who kill miners", and by 10:37 we've had a murder by PICKAX?
15
bellelaide, I'm so sorry.
16
Half a day of snow, and somebody has already gone all Jack Torrance on us?
17
Christ. My thoughts go out to those involved, including the witnesses posting here. So sorry to hear about that.
18
Christ. My thoughts go out to those involved, including the witnesses posting here. So sorry to hear about that.
19
The witnesses included 6th graders from SAAS walking to their gym class. The teacher made them all run. The kids have already pared the story down to "axe murderer on the loose!"
20
this is a block from my apartment. glad i left early for work this morning. eeek.
21
This doesn't even make any sense. Why?
22
Fuck. Unbelievable.
23
Stay classy CD!

Pick axes don't kill people, people kill people.

24
Let's bet on the race of the killer. Any takers?
25
@24 fuck you.

Jesus Christ, WHY don't you guys ban NWLSP?
26
I'm right around the corner on 14th. I heard the sirens this morning. Hope my neighbors are all ok...
27
@25, are you afraid the odds aren't on your side? They aren't!
28
This is where I live. There is a halfway house between the two school buildings and there are some really dangerous looking and crazy looking people living there. I wondered many times when something like this would happen. In fact, I think the man that murdered the young women on 15th a couple years ago was living there, too.
29
@ 24, 25 ..hide your wife hide your kids ..hell ..hide your damn husband because it's cold and negroes have gone crazy and is out there killing up ERRBODY !
30
For such a small place, Seattle sure is chock-full of scumbags.
31
Whoa, hold on there people. I'm guessing he "shady" looking house is the only home still owned by an African American family in the neighborhood. The guy who lives there is a total sweetheart. Guessing that Jeremy Lange is a white dude? Way to make assumptions.

Also, the people in those halfway houses are likely relatively harmless. It's usually mentally ill people who are NOT getting treatment who do this kind of stuff. Let's wait for more information to come out before pegging it all on the "crazy" people. Vince, do you have proof the murderer from a couple of years ago was living in a halfway house nearby? It was my understanding that he was NOT in the system.
32
@25: I think the library only lets people use the internet for like 30 minutes at a time, so just ignore him and he'll go away.
33
..for everybody who had to witness this and the victims family who'll have to live through it, our heartfelt wishes for healing and strength through this horrible morning.
34
Raskolnikov?
35
@ belleaide -- The house he was referring to is apparently vacant.
36
This reminds me to say that if you witnessed the attack, like belleaide is saying he/she did, please give us a call at 206-323-7101. Just ask for Eli, Cienna, or Matt.
37
Man you guys.
A violent murder in broad daylight is a tragedy.
A group of sixth graders accidentally witnessing it is awful and disturbing. How about some concern for the victim, the families, and the innocent witnesses? My 11 year old son was in that group of kids. While he fortunately was looking the other way and missed the gruesome act, he has a bunch of friends who were not so lucky.
38
Obviously we need to all live in Fear.

And profile anyone with legal pickaxes.

Or concealed pickaxe permits.

Fear! Must live in Fear!
40
@28 i don't know if it's the same house but your comment reminded me that shannon harps' murderer did live in the area. per the seattle times, he lived in a place on e union called the arnold berkeley house.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.c…

and @31: he was receiving treatment at sound mental health. it's in the same story.
41
@7- Some people aren't emotionally capable of contemplating the reality of a tragedy, so they makes light of it in some macabre fashion. (I am often one of those people.)

It is not that we don't feel or understand the tragedy, but that we feel it quite intensely. Don't get mad at us.

Then there's fuckwits like Will and the Naive Seattle Troll...
42
@ 3 - That was my first thought, too.

So sorry for everyone involved, including the kids who apparently saw it happen - I'm with the Revered Dr DJ Riz on this, my prayers of condolence and wishes of healing go out to everyone touched by this horrible act today.

Dear God.
43
@24: I hate falling for troll-bait, but CHS is reporting the attacker as a "White heavy set male, 5'5" 230, dark hair, black heavy jacket, black back pack." (http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2010/1…)

Can I have my 5 bucks?
44
Ewww
45
Gee...I can't imagine WHY cops are a little quick on the trigger these days.
46
@ Bellelaide: Well said. Most of the clients of those group homes are, indeed, very lovely people, and it is generally those who are not receiving medical treatment (i.e., those who are not "in the system") who are more of a threat to others or a risk to themselves. The people in those group homes are very dear to many people's hearts, so yeah. Put your thinking caps on before you make assumptions. Thanks.
47
Tragic!

What did @ 24 say? It's gone.
48
OH!!!EMMM!!!GEEEE!!!

Did you guys actually ban That idiot NWLSP?!?!?!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
49
@24 disappeared - hooray! Joe's wish is Slog's command...

@47, deliberately cruel racist trollery, as usual from that commenter...
50
Holy shit. Thank you guys. PHENOMENAL SLOG POWER! Itty bitty typing space.
51
Based on the way these things go, later it will be shown that the pickaxe was still in the toolbox with a sheath over it.
52
@41 - Call me old fashioned, but I think it's just nice manners to be respectful when someone is murdered. Is it so hard to save the macabre jokes for your personal circle of friends and family? Viral negativity is saddening when you realize that the victim's friends and family and witnesses will be reading this.
53
A sad day indeed.
54
Oh, my God, that's horrible. Those kids saw the attack.
55
@52- It's how my family and friends deal with things, so it's sometimes hard to remember the rest of the world can indulge their taste in 2nd hand tragedy so easily and "respectfully."
56
And yes, this whole thing is fucking awful.
57
It is long past time we got an initiative petition to ban the way the state mental health laws enable dangerous personalities to murder us at random all in the name of protecting the mentally ill. The pendulum has swung too far, the lawmakers are unwilling to take the action clearly needed, so its up to the public to step in and do what needs to be done.

Shannon Harps, the Kalebu killer of South Park, geez there are dozens of murders in the past few years that were entirely preventable except that the mental health workers who know the imminent danger are threatened with jail and fines if they warn anyone including the police. Enough is enough!
58
Of course it is.

But overreacting won't make it better.
59
@54. Yes, it seems many of those 6th graders saw the thing go down. As a SAAS parent, I have been on the receiving end of lots of texts from the school and my kids. The school locked down moments after the murder, and all the kids were hustled to safe confines. I got emails and text messages from the school about the situation and their attention to extreme safety measures. (This debacle, which followed an early dismissal decision because of the snow, was followed by word that there was a gas main leak under 15th Ave, where the middle schoolers get picked up, so all the usual pickup arrangements had to be changed too--a banner day at the school, all in all). The kids who witnessed the murder will be given every conceivable resource to help them with the fallout, I am sure. Still.....I am glad I've never seen anything like that.

Oh, and Will? Go play on the freeway.
60
Somehow the cold and snow makes this even more depressing and gruesome.
61
Shades of Ramón Mercader...
62
Just like Trotsky in Mexico. Not an icepick. Not an ax. But a mountaineering iceaxe, a pickax.

"A mountaineering ice axe, sometimes incorrectly referred to as an "ice pick",[8] was used in the assassination of Leon Trotsky by Ramón Mercader in Mexico City in 1940.[9] An ice axe was also used in the 2007 murder of Anthony Walker in Great Britain.[10]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_axe

63
So sorry, Seattle friends.
64
@62 - Uh, thanks.
65
Condolences to victim's friends, family, witnesses. :(

Sorry I don't have anything clever to say slog gawkers

I hope the cops get to the bottom of this. What the hell drives people to crazed murder during the day, on the streets of capitol hill? Sorry but capitol hill has crazy person problem OK?!
66
Nice try scolding me socialworker, but I bet you haven't spent a decade living in that neighborhood amongst those people. Having them seated across from you at a desk for a short period of time is very different from having to make your way through them in the dark to get home. I daresay I have a better understanding of their capabilities than your rose colored vision.
67
K X One - my vision isn't rose colored, but I can smell shit from a mile away and you reek. I am a mental health worker who knows many of "those" poor people. I also live 1/2 a block from the crime scene, own a house here, and plan to stay here. You're a bigot. You have no understanding of anything. If you think this is a dangerous neighborhood, maybe move to Bellevue or Ballard or some other bland, white-ass place where people are just as freaked out by mental illness.

Ironically, it appears that the VICTIM of this crime was one of "those" people that you live "amongst", and the perp is a dude with several domestic violence and assault charges against him. The DV perps might be the REAL dangers to society, with their entitled rage, and murder/suicide plans - maybe a thwarted plan to murder their ex with a hatchet with the victim at the wrong place/wrong time? Talking out my ass here, but I bet anything this crime is somehow domestic violence related.
68
I have had numerous run ins with the murderer, he bit one of my coworkers leaving a scar. He is pretty much bat shit insane and for the record is Hispanic for all you self hating Caucasoid out there.

@ 62, The differenence is Trotsky deservied it.
69
I have had numerous run ins with the murderer, he bit one of my coworkers leaving a scar. He is pretty much bat shit insane and for the record is Hispanic for all you self hating Caucasoid out there.

@ 63 Trostky deserved it.
70
I have had numerous run ins with the murderer, he bit one of my coworkers leaving a scar. He is pretty much bat shit insane and for the record is Hispanic for all you self hating Caucasoids out there.

@ 63 Trostky deserved it.
71
Woops I blame IE crashed twice while I was trying to post.
72
None of you would actually know this (or take the time to figure it out) but I went to high school at Seattle Academ, and the people in the halfway home were the ones defending the kids that go to school there, when creeps on capital hill showed up and bothered the students. They would be the first ones to tell these kids to get lost. Just because the term "halfway home" has a certain stigma with it, it does not invite you all to pass judgement on these people. At least they are in a halfway home and trying to better themselves, sorry they can't all be as fortunate as you. I have had a number of them stick up for me when creeps showed up around the high school. I'm ashamed at you all passing so much judgement.
73
Ugh. How awful. This is obviously an insane man to use such a physically direct weapon on a stranger.
74
OMG! How horrible! My heart goes out to the victim's family and friends and witnesses of the attack. I can say the same for the perp's family and maybe even the perp. It is difficult living a life as a family member of someone so messed up and attempts to help them get well fail. Thank you to all the police, fire, medical, mental health, coronor's staff, cleanup crew and anyone else for dealing with the incident!

@bellelaide - Be careful about your biases or bigotry too. Your comment recommending KX One "move to Bellevue or Ballard or some other bland, white-ass place where people are just as freaked out by mental illness" is rather prejudiced itself!
75
KX One: I lived and worked in that neighborhood for many, many years. I worked retail in that neighborhood in my twenties, worked in the mental health field later, and lived there the whole fucking time. The residents of the group homes are clearly not the problem.
76
...so it was a Sound Mental Health client again (and I will point out that he lived on Summit, as opposed to one of the group homes in that particular neighborhood). Really, I think this demonstrates what happens when people with severe mental health issues don't get the proper treatment and attention they need.

It's undoubtedly not the fault of Sound Mental Health that when these clients adamantly insist that they're feeling suicidal or are experiencing thoughts of hurting others, they are always readily dismissed by the hospitals. Every time. They are given some anxiety medication, talked down from their harmful ideation, and sent directly back to wherever it is that they're living. I've seen this happen hundreds of times. Rarely are they hospitalized, in spite of the fact that many of them directly request hospitalization.

I'm so sorry for everyone involved in this.

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