Comments

1
I hope this did not happen inside Cafe Racer.
2
Second Amendment! All hail.
3
@1 it did.
4
@1: I think it did.
5

Panic in Seatroit, I asked for an autograph
6
Where's Green Lake Watch when you need them?
7
KOMO is saying that two of the victims have died, and this guy is still on the loose, headed northbound.
8
2 confirmed dead.
9
This is so awful. AND AT CAFE RACER? That is such an amazing, comfortable, safe place. Usually. Lordy this is awful/fucked up/what the fuck.
10
I am grieved. It reads as hollow but I've been going to Cafe Racer since 2005 and I know (please let it not be 'knew') some staff, the owner, and some regulars.
11
Terrifying.
12
And another shooting just reported on 8th and Spring on First Hill.

The fuck's going on?
13
White male? About time....
14
Am I just noticing more shootings recently or are there actually more happening than normal?
15
Guess we shouldn't have castrated the SPD.
16
Roosevelt is a little sketchy sometimes, but I never contemplated people being shot at Cafe Racer. There needs to be some immediate action on caring weapons in Seattle. This is not acceptable, and I don't care to hear how it's not the guns - it's definitely the guns and the laws. There were enough incidents over the weekend, including a robbery at gunpoint at 50th.
17
Without any additional context I don't think it's a good idea to go off on another guns vs no guns debate. We don't know that the assailant had targets in mind, if he/she would have done it whether they had a gun or knife or bomb or whatever, etc.

Jumping immediately to conclusions without other info is not only a waste of effort but usually looks real stupid once more details emerge.
18
SPD just posted another bit about the 8th & Seneca shooting:

"Male in 8th and Seneca shooting described as a white male, 35 yoa, blonde crew cut, driving a black Mercedes SUV. Armed with a gun."

Great. Two nutjobs with guns and willing to use them out & about.
19
@12: 8th & Spring: Reference?
20
@14: from what I understand, last year we had 21 shooting homicides. Including today, we've had 18 so far this year. It's been ridiculous.
21
Roosevelt is not at all sketchy, this was a domestic violence issue that escalated.
22
I love that the SPD Blotter boasted about an "emphasis patrol" finding a guy dealing drugs on 2nd near Pike/Pine this weekend. Congratulations guys! Come around Downtown more often!
23
@17: True, those drive-by stabbings are a real problem.
24
WTF? So sick of the guns and the cowards!
At least both the shooters have been Caucasian, so we are spared the bulk of the racist comments that usually accompany the news articles.
Condolences to the victims and their families. : (
25
Seems like a good day to be a shut-in.
26
I'm happy to jump to a logical conclusion: The easy access to firearms is the problem. Compare our homicide rates to the rest of the civilized world and you know things are fucked up.

27
@23 - Oh, and don't forget that father of two who was accidentally stabbed when two people standing on either side of him got into a knife fight.
28
Hmm. Shootings suck, but this sure feels like SPD trying to pull a Bush administration, fanning the flames of fear, to make us feel like we really really need them to protect us from scary 'others', rather than we need them to knuckle under to the DOJ and learn the Bill of Rights.

My opinion will change if it turns out these shooters really were on a rampage shooting whomever their paths crossed. Otherwise, the boys in blue have just figured out how to use Twitter to ratchet up fear city wide, for highly localized crime. Convenient.
29
Awesome. Not only are people dead and injured, but now the gun control debate can divide otherwise polite and cooperative neighbors and friends...
30
"we are spared the bulk of the racist "

Unless they are half hispanic.

@28 Convenient or a conspiracy!
31
Thanks, @20.

Jesus H. Christ on a popsicle stick, why do we let all of these people have guns?
32
Bloody unfortunate. I like Cafรฉ Racer. I go there to see live jazz or R & R from time to time. It's walking distance from my place. This is senseless.

Whatโ€™s going on in the city? Sigh.
33
@28, um I was in high school in Pittsburgh when a few shooting rampages happened. They called us into the auditorium, told us what was going on and they locked us in the building. No going outside at all until the shooter was picked up by the cops. Lots of businesses locked down. Homes locked down. It's a benefit of technology and communication that the police can disseminate this information in many forums in little time. When a shooter is at large I think it's completely and totally unfair to accuse a police department of attempting to ratchet up the fear. You know what ratchets up the fear? Fucking shooters running around the city. You know what would be totally irresponsible of the police? Not fucking telling the citizenry.

I know there's not a lot of love for the SPD here (or, it seems in Seattle in general. I live in NYC so I can't speak with any authority about it) but you're being an asshole. The right, reasonable and responsible thing to do when something like this happens is to let people know about it. If I lived, worked or hung out in these neighborhoods I'd want to know. Shooting rampages are NOT isolated incidents. And anyone and everyone in the vicinity is at risk.
34
@21, obviously didn't say all of Roosevelt was sketchy, used to have a store on Roosevelt. It's typical Seattle to pretend that any exception to a rule renders the rule false. Knives are also dangerous. That doesn't in any affect the conclusion that guns are more dangerous. They are easier to use, and shootings are more often fatal. There is quite obviously a problem with guns in Seattle, and your rights to form a militia will not be harmed in the ensuring that my kids can go to school in the neighborhood safely.
35
@28:

And maybe, the shooters are actually the police themselves! I have no evidence for this, but I want it to be true, so it is!

I bet the police kidnapped the Lindbergh baby too, and the Area 51 UFO crash was the police, who also filmed the fake moon landing.

And 9/11.
36
Shocking. And moving to my hood, maybe?

http://westseattleblog.com/2012/05/break…
37
UW alerts agree with @3. Remember guns don't kill people, bullets in guns shot in your face kill people.
38
Apart from all the terribleness, it's interesting to see/hear what the media is calling the area. Seems like now they've stopped calling it the u-dist and are calling it roosevelt.
39
@38: There was some confusion initially -- first report I heard said it was at 45th, which would explain why it was initially reported as U District.
40
@35, or maybe they consistently ignore reports of police brutality and excessive use of force, and systematically delay investigations into claims? Or, or, maybe they shoot and kill harmless transients and then lie about it after the fact? Or maybe, maybe they actively harass and abuse members minority races... or selectively enforce bullshit laws disproportionately under the guise of officers' discretion!

Oh wait, yours was funnier because it wasn't true.
41
The victim of the carjacking has died so that is three dead from gun violence in Seattle today. There are still two in critical and one in serious condition. Japan would have 1 death for this population for a year, and it happened on one day in Seattle.
42
@40 Facebook Like!
43
@39: Well to some, anything south of NE Ravenna Blvd in that area is the u-dist.
44
(see File:Seattle_-_Roosevelt_map.jpg">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seattl… )
45
Maybe some of you could hold off grinding your axes a sec. Jesus fuck.
46
woah, I guess this system doesn't like wacky wiki links. let's try http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co…
47
@41 And Honduras would have 430 deaths for this population for a year.

So count your blessings.
48
@47, good point, I think the US aspires to be a third-world pinneapple democracy.
49
And 'yes' I have visited Honduras, and know the conditions there.
50
@48 One can dream.
51
@40: I was pretty specifically referring to the bullshit, unsupported conspiracy theory put out by #28, that the police were only telling the public about a shooter on the loose in order to create untoward fear for political gain.

Perhaps your police do those things, and perhaps there is evidence for it, but that is a wholly other issue.

See, since his point was conspiracy theory bullshit, I was responding with other conspiracy theory bullshit that is just as supported as his claims.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad…

You can certainly read words, but perhaps a bit of comprehension would help too. Great job in realizing that my conspiracy statements were not true though!
52
"lie about it after the fact?"

And your evidence for that is where? Maybe hiding up your ass?

"maybe they actively harass and abuse members minority races"

DOJ said they don't.

Enjoy your police-free dystopia as it turns on you.
53
@33 - I spent most of my young adult life in DC and NYC (99-2007). Like most people who lived in those cities at the time, I had a reluctant respect for the police. They were kinda corrupt and kinda a**holish, but they had a tough job and I, like most people, respected that.

Not surprisingly, I was shocked at just how toxic the relationship was between the SPD and her residents when I first moved here. I'm not a law and order guy by any stretch, but the folks here just seemed to hate the cops. At first I thought it was disrespectful and over the line. After 5 years in this city I began to realize that the hatred wasn't completely unwarranted. The SPD is pretty jacked up (just ask the DOJ). More to the point, the SPD hates the residents of Seattle every bit as much as the city hates them. Take a look at that SPOG blog now and then and you'll see just how screwed up their attitude is.

Where this toxic attitude started I could not say. But it's here. And you're being a bit presumptuous to throw around accusations when you clearly have no idea what we're dealing with in Seattle.
54
@Gomez,

Are you serious? Making it harder to get guns makes it safer not because of your ridiculous logic that you project on the opposing viewpoint.

Let us take your example though of him having a knife I guarantee you he would not have been able to stab 5 people without someone taking him down.

Also, the difference between the protection a car door provides to a knife attack as opposed to a gun shot is phenomenal.

And lastly just shut up, the argument against more gun control is just bologna. It's not worth trying to spew either because it's a waste of words, which there already are too many of.
55
@33 And you are being a clueless dipshit. The SPD is on the ropes. Maybe you don't read the paper from your panic room, but the SPD did just pull a bullshit leak about how the DOJ's remedies were going to cost the city $41 million dollars. When in all likelihood, there is no fucking way that is the case.

Seeing this department as not being a political entity with an agenda is moronic. Just because your brain can't handle the fine detail, and big picture doesn't mean I'm a moron.

And actually, you are so busy being an hysteric, you don't even get the fine detail right. If there is a shooter in a neighborhood, you know a really good way of keeping people out of the area and alerting locals? A police cordon and local announcement (whether by loudspeaker or other means). That's how it's been done since times before Twitter. I'm willing to bet it was done today too. Sure, I suppose using Twitter to alert a wider audience is fine, but it doesn't protect anyone that the police cordon SPD more than likely put up today did. But it might be hard to think of that when you are too busy laundering your peed pants and calling other people assholes.

The right, reasonable, and responsible thing to do when faced with a police department desperate to be loved after failing at their job...particularly in the thick of the public debate and PR campaign over that failure...is to question why they are saying what they are saying in that context. Unlike you I don't preclude their being any public safety value to their message, but you, in your child-like state, are completely disregarding if not disdaining the wider context.

Might I be wrong about SPD's motives, sure. But in Danny Westneat's column about the shooting of the Madrona dad on Cherry street, he specifically mentioned getting letters from officers that the reason shootings like this are happening is because the DOJ has tied their hands. You know because doing effective policing means having to be able to deny people their rights or summarily beat them for being brown. Not do things like hiring some people that aren't white and don't live in Issaquah to walk beats and do some community policing.

Thanks to people like you we got the Iraq War, Gitmo, and eroded civil rights at home. Open your eyes and use your brain. Thanks, asshole.
56
@27 oh and don't forget that time that 6 year old girl brought her dads cooking knife to class and stabbed 3 kids and the teacher
57
@35 and maybe you are a complete moron missing the point?

If you want to be a smartass, it's helpful to note the prefix is "smart" and try to be that. Otherwise you hazard looking like a dumbass. A perch not so easy to claim snark points from.
58
Oh, and someone went off the Lakeview overpass onto Eastlake.
59
Delridge is on lockdown. Helicopters outside and streets shut down. The car was ditched near the West Seattle Bridge.
60
28 really is full of shit. s/he is suggesting that the police notifying residents of a killer on the lose is somehow wrong. i don't give a crap what else the police has done wrong - getting the word out that a killer fresh from killing is roaming around the neighborhood in a desperate mood is the RIGHT THING TO DO.
should they NOT tell us? what an absurd idea.
thank you 33.
61
Holy fucking shit. I used live right there next to the Racer.

Could one of the Stranger Writers please seek to clarify if these are separate incidents, related incidents, or we don't know. Because the shit-ass reporting here makes it impossible to tell.
62
@61: From the teevees, apparently the carjacking is unrelated to the cafe racer shooting.
63
@60 I'm not full of shit. When you clean up your little yellow puddle, read @55 then feel free to make an argument.
64
@55, Sorry, but I stand by my statement that accusing a police department of "ratcheting up the fear" when they're using multimedia to alert the public about a potentially dangerous situation is assholish. I defended the SPD only on this very small and specific thing.
As a rule I hate police departments. And the SPD is certainly fucked up. That doesn't mean they were doing anything wrong in this case. And I was only talking about this case.
65
@62 Phew. Thank you.
66
@57:

Yeah, it is a real mark of intelligence to claim far reaching conspiracies you have no evidence for. Take off the tinfoil hat, it is constricting the flow to your brain.

Your point was that since this "feels" like the police are fanning fear, that it must be true. Are you saying the shootings are fake, or that the police should not share this with the public? Have any proof at all?

But what you say is true, because it "feels" that way to you. You know, I heard the gub'mint puts fluoride in the drinking water as a form of mind control. It feels like it might be true so it is!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence
67
Based upon nothing but several news reports and living in White Center my whole life, this sounds like a vendetta/personal problem. Speculation cause I'm in between projects at work: Dude got mad at someone, got a gun, shot up the cafe. Probably killed who he hated, and took out some extra people because, hey, I'm an ass and don't care, so why not? The scum pops a bus or perhaps had a car and hits downtown before anyone knows what's what. Oh look, I-5, exit and get a new car! Carjacking, shoots the woman, steals her car, heads to, alas, a neighborhood he probably knows (either lives in or knows people). Plus it's easy: I-5, West Seattle Bridge, first exit is Delridge. Gets past the police station, freaks, dumps car and runs for the greatly-wooded area east of Delridge.

Sadness, all around. :'(
68
According to King5, three homicides in Seattle last year, 19 so far this year.
69
@53, Fair enough. Like I said it's apparently that the relationship with the SPD and the residents of Seattle is not good. And I understand that there are some very good reasons for this. None of that means that what the SPD did in using twitter as an additional means to alert the citizenry of potential danger is wrong. Or "ratcheting up the fear". And I only took offense to that suggestion not to the hatred of the SPD in general.
70
This incident is now on the front page at CNN.com. There must be white people among the victims.
71
28. It's worth noting if an armed assailant is still on the loose. Though it's not likely said assailants will randomly attack anyone, it's always a distinct possibility and worth letting the public know about.
72
Fair to say that if a snow storm cost Nickels a third term this crap going on in Seattle is going to cost McGinn any chance of a second term
73
@55, Mike Silva wrote, "in Danny Westneat's column about the shooting of the Madrona dad on Cherry street, he specifically mentioned getting letters from officers that the reason shootings like this are happening is because the DOJ has tied their hands. You know because doing effective policing means having to be able to deny people their rights or summarily beat them for being brown. Not do things like hiring some people that aren't white and don't live in Issaquah to walk beats and do some community policing."

Interesting. Most of us would be accused of terrorism for making such threats.

I dug up the quote. On May 26, 2012, in "Shooting victim a dad just like me," Danny Westneat wrote, "A police officer wrote to say to expect more violence as long as the force has one arm tied behind its back by the feds and the media."
74
@ 70 We don't know that for sure, when the shootings in Tulsa happened and it was a white gunman and black victims it was on the front page Stop living in the 60s
75
@66 Yes, just like how you " feel" that what I say is a conspiracy theory. Only problem being I support what I say with an argument, and you apparently don't read, or argue, but just say "bullshit" and keep feeling. Hint: you are not the reasonable or reasoned one.
76
@72 why?

Most likely it's a car-owning white person angry at cyclists, with a gun.
77
My first reaction to this (I live in Ravenna and run in the early AM) is to buy a gun.
78
I've heard from my friend who works here that the description matches that of a mentally unstable guy employees have asked to leave the cafe a few times this week. If it does turn out that this is the case, which seems likely to me (opening fire indiscriminately on both patrons and at least one employee in a cafe doesn't seem like the work of someone with a clear head or a specific vendetta) hopefully people will consider the fact that cutting social services to severely mentally unstable folks will naturally lead to events like this becoming more commonplace.

Obviously, whether or not this turns out to be the guy, this is a terrible tragedy for everyone that is close to this community, and my heart goes out to anyone personally affected by this. Please keep it civil and compassionate y'all.
79
@55, 63: The Twitter feed was what notified the Stranger, who then published the story on Slog before the Times or P-I. People in my office saw the story, re-tweeted the SPD tweets, and also called friends and family, some of who have kids at Roosevelt and didn't know it was under lockdown. People who were going to go to that area decided not to, if not to avoid the shutdown streets, then to avoid an armed killer on the loose. In other words - it worked, and I don't see a single reason why they shouldn't use it as one of many means to inform the public.

I'm not sure what argument you're actually trying to make - you keep saying you might be wrong - but the fact that you keep referring to those arguing against it as some kind of pants-wetting ninnies kind of demonstrates the level of debate you're trying to have.

tl;dr: You're full of shit.
80
@68 There were 20 homicides in Seattle last year, not 3.
81
FYI, Roosevelt High School is now on "shelter in place" a notch down from a lockdown. The students will be let out at their regular time (around 2:20 p.m.). I saw one parent come early to get their child.

I write for the Seattle Schools Community Forum blog and live right by RHS so I went over to check. There is a police presence continuing around the school.
82
@78 Good point, but you are likely to be attacked by hysterics for trying to impart any bit of context into the discussion. The mob is drunk and thirsty for more outrage.
83
Unconfirmed, the two men killed at Cafe Racer were Shmootzi the Clod and Meshuguna Joe of the band God's Favorite Beefcake (also Circus Contraption). Cafe Racer super regulars (I don't think i've ever been there and not seen Shmootzi). Sad
84
"people will consider the fact that cutting social services to severely mentally unstable folks will naturally lead to events like this becoming more commonplace."

Higher taxes will stop crazy people from shooting you! I swear it's true! This never happened before 2008!

What if he simply refused his meds, can we blame him then?

Oh lordy, he come the 'blame every but the person responsible' crowd, tails between their asses, testicles in a jar at home hidden by their women.
85
@55--cordon off what, exactly? The Roosevelt neighborhood? Cowen Park? This isn't someone holed up in an identified building. The shooter ran "north." The police can't run around with a loudspeaker shouting "We are looking for a shooting suspect! Watch out!"
I'm three blocks away from the Racer Cafe, and we have the doors locked. But we're not cowering in fear saying "please protect us with a brutal police state!" There are no peed pants. We're just hoping this ends soon, and glad to know about the situation and able to make informed choices about restricting entry to the building and going out or not.

Yeah, some of the police act shitty. But sometimes there's situations where the police department comes in handy--like, say, looking for a murder suspect.
86
Obviously the SPD needs to profile white hipsters over 30 ... um, wait, what?
87
This is a horrible act and the shooter regardless of cause is a coward. Please wake up fellow citizens. This is not a call for an increase in armed populace, rather, a call for firearm education and tolerance. I wrote an I anonymous over a month ago and ridiculed for my description of events. My account was as real as this one. Today I am deeply saddened for these victims and all of their friends and family. I am not a gun nut, I suppose you could call me a staunch supporter of the constitution. People like these and the one I wrote about are the outliers, statistical anomalies. Responsible gun ownership is important to maintain the rights of the populace, unfortunately some abuse these rights, and many others as well. Please, please, please(!) be safe and responsible as a gun owner, and be aware as an average citizen. I know this sounds odd coming from a proponent of an armed populace, but be patient and display empathy for your neighbor. Walk away if possible...but be prepared for anything else. I have not always been the biggest supporter of SPD, but today I am proud of our police and their swift and extensive response. Let's unite as a community and make some positive changes.
88
@80, I'm pretty sure King 5 said 3 in all of last year, but they meant (or I should have heard) 3 in the same period of 2011. In any case, 19 in 2012 is almost equal to 20 in 2011, and today is May 30th.
90
@13 etc.

Fuck you.

No, seriously, fuck you.

There are people reading this who have lost their friends. Take your trolling somewhere else today. Please.
91
Cub @seattletimes intern @jpanzar is tweeting at people associated with Cafe Racer who have lost friends today. Where is his supervisor?

92
@87, reasonable minds will prevail. There are obviously a number of trolls on here who will pretend that any argument justfies their loose idea of what the second amendment provides for. The truth is that Canada has more guns per capita, but some reasonable rules on who can have one and how they can transport one change the numbers on gun violence dramatically.
93
@89, feel free to show up at the vigil and say that you fucking loser.
94
83: shouldn't we wait until we get confirmation before naming victims?

55: We should be encouraging government to share more information via multiple outlets, not less. Less information invariably leads to unfounded speculation, which we see just in this thread...
95
@92 how they transport one?

Explain please.

@90 This is a public forum, not a private memorial.
96
@94: mainstream media is listing them.
97
@92: "The truth is that Canada has more guns per capita [...]"

Where did you see that? Every figure I've ever seen shows between 1/3 and 1/2 as many guns per capita in Canada when compared to the US.
98
Ug. Kiro saying 2 more dead (4 total) from Cafe Racer incident.
99
Total killed at CR is now at 4. (two men and two women)
100
Whoa, @83. Are you sure about that? Where did you get that from?
101
KIRO just interviewed a friend of the Cafe Racer victims a few minutes ago. He said that one of those shot was the band booker there. Just sad.

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