- Jimmy Clarke
I mentioned this in Morning News, but it deserves its own post: It was on this day in 2006 that a deranged man with a pistol-grip shotgun and a semiautomatic handgun hunted down guests at a late-night house party on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Fatally shot that night: 14-year-old Melissa Moore, 15-year-old Suzanne Thorne, 21-year-old Christopher Williamson, 22-year-old Justin Schwarz, 26-year-old Jeremy Martin, and 32-year-old Jason Travers.
Here’s the feature package The Stranger published in the immediate aftermath of the shootings.
As for five-years-later reflection: It’s still horrifying. The subhead to Eli’s 2006 piece nails it: Kyle Huff Never Found a Place to Fit In. Last Saturday Morning He Murdered Six People Who Had.
I hope this weekend brings a commemorative rave somewhere in Seattle, even if it’s just you wiggling to Orbital in your car.
What a horrible day. such a bone-chilling story — spraypainting “NOW” on the steps and then hunting down and murdering those poor kids.
That was the event that brought me to Slog, if I recall correctly.
What a horrible day. Related: That has always been my favorite cover of the Stranger. It is the most powerful image I’ve ever seen to commemorate such a tragedy. Bravo! And sad 🙁
Yeah, I know that wasn’t the day that this blog was created, but it really was the day that this blog was created. Your guys’ coverage of that terrible event here on SLOG was superb.
God I remember that Sunday morning. I was living on 15th Ave at the time and was walking down to Starbucks to get my morning coffee. As I was walking by the QFC I saw 4 or 5 cop cars fly by with their lights going but no sirens…
I found out on CNN a few hours later what happened. I moved off the hill a month later.
a few years ago I had a friend who rented a room in that house… everytime I smoked a cigarette on the front porch, I could never not think about the people who died right where I was sitting.
@ 4 Then you should also probably try to remember that it was actually a Saturday.
@McGee, sorry that I did a fucking typo.
And who the hell are you newbie?
Thanks for the reminder, David. What a shocking and traumatic event that was. My heart goes out to them and theirs. I will be working the dance floor this weekend (either Rebar on Friday or ETG on Saturday) in their honor.
Fnarf – me too. I had read Slog periodically before, but the coverage of this horrific event is what made me a consistent reader.
I can’t believe it’s been 5 years.
@4 This crime had nothing to do with living on the Hill, being on the Hill, or being from the Hill. Moving away from the hill would not keep you safer from a random event.
The public meeting I helped run, soon after the tragedy, was the hardest thing I’d ever done, up to that point.
@10, well I was moving off the hill anyway but just mentioned that as something that happened shortly afterwards. But by all means pull those assumptions out of thin air. (must be heavy troll day on Slog)
And the Stranger really did some great reporting on that tragedy.
@12- and it was relevant to the story, how?
Who am I? A friend of one of the slain. Oh and a typo is when you mistype letters, not write a completely different fucking word.
@14, it’s impressive how you honor your friend’s memory by attacking perfect strangers on the internet.
Yeesh, take it easy on the nitpicking, guys. Save that for a story that is more deserving or ire (anything else) — not for a story that is for us to reflect on an event that hit the community hard and that we can only hope will not be repeated.
^^of ire
@15 All I said was that it was a Saturday not a Sunday. However, if you knew my friend you’d know he’d be A-OK with shooting down self-important phonies.
I’m with 16. I prefer outfighting.
So was there followup to this? Did the twin ever give an interview? Was there any ever explanation, or resolution? Read the Columbine book recently, was a very good book about a very bad event.
I knew the kids who were throwing the after party and had been to that house many times. Had I not been sick and stayed in that night, I might’ve even been there. I still know several of the people who were in the house that night, but survived. There is still a lot of trauma in the community about this, although it’s not discussed much anymore, and at least one person who was there is still quite broken by it.
I can’t believe it’s been five years.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/veo/2554378…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/veo/2554378…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/veo/2554376…
my dad called from the east coast early that morning. was worried it was me cuz i lived in a shared house on the hill, and i was like no way pops, but everything about it was like it could have been alot of people i knew. pax
and i do remember looking pretty much only to slog coverage that day
@4 I also want to explain that I was not trying to be rude with my post @10. I was only defending my neighborhood in the same way we all had to do 5 years ago. I can remember when everyone was trying to find someone to blame. People were blaming CHAC, or blaming Capitol Hill as a bad neighborhood, blaming the kids because they were ravers, etc. I think I even recall some of the homeowners in the neighborhood stating that it was because these houses are being leased out to low income “renters”. It was upsetting, to say the least, that people couldn’t just see this a random thing that could have happened anywhere at any time. Cato, what you had said I took out of context (because it sounded like that crap) and your immediate rude response was quite annoying to me. I apologize for my second post that was a little snarky, and I even had a snarker comment rehearsed in my head to post again. That was rude of me, and I would never want to be seen as a troll in a thread like this. This was a sad day that I can remember vividly, and I am sure it was a horrifying to everyone else.
Interesting hearing now (and then) all of the people with “almost” stories, of which I am one. Was at the rave that this was a sort of afterparty for, and was invited to the house. My guy at the time and I debated going but made the then seemingly illogical decision to drive back to Portland at 3 in the morning instead. Would be a different world for me if I had stayed.
Appreciate the coverage and reminder of the tragedy that evening. Makes us all slow down a bit.
And tomorrow will be the 5th anniversary of the tragedy’s wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hil…
This also brought me to slog. I had moved from Seattle just a few months previous, and the news hit me like a bus – like it had happened in my neighborhood, even though I never lived on or near Capitol Hill. So sad.
MMMM YES, let’s react to violence, tragedy and murder with misdirected hatred. MMM sweet delicious human nature. Stay classy, mankind.
McGee you should be fucking ashamed of yourself for sounding like you’re some sort of modern day Holden Caulfield railing against the “phonies.” Grow the fuck up and learn that some people want to mourn WITH YOU.
I will always remember 10 JULY 10. When one of my Soldiers died from an RPG. I can’t remember what DAY it was, it’s entirely plausible that Cato couldn’t remember the exact DAY either.
Grow the fuck up. Life sucks, people die, press on, live on, and keep them in your heart. Don’t live your life like a fucking asshole.
Thanks for that David. And yeah, that was the day Slog really showed what it could be and do.
Hey, The Stranger. Sometime in the past five years, you changed your URI structure without bothering to redirect requests for the old URIs, breaking the Web. In the Capitol Hill massacre Wikipedia article, there’s a reference to “Letter from Ben Shroeter, included in Josh Feit, The Boy Who Cried Wolf?, on Slog, The Stranger’s blog. Accessed 8 April 2006,” in which Ben Shroeter is quoted as saying, “The dangerous ‘underground’ rave has virtually disappeared in the Seattle area,” and “I’d rather have my daughter at CHAC or VERA Project than in the beckoning custody of unregulated and lecherous slimeballs.” That post is now unavailable at the cited URI.
Cool URIs don’t change.
David, The Stranger, and readers,
Thank you.
I am one of the people that lived in the house, and good friend to several of the victims.
I’m on an email list with the parents and others that were brought together by this tragedy. Every year this date sneaks up on all of us. Every year it’s surprising (and not) how it goes by without much word from the media.
Not that any of us are aching to have this wound torn open publicly (again). Rather, it’s important to keep the dialog open and the memories alive, lest our friends died in vain. The aftermath of this tragedy was a remarkable thing to witness in Seattle. I feel blessed to be surrounded to this day by a community that promotes thoughtful, engaging discussion about everything in our lives, including the hard stuff.
So, thank you for this Slog post that contributes to keeping that dialog active here in the public realm.
Update:
I’m writing this from my home in Portland, surrounded to this day by many of the very people who I shared that home, that morning with. Many others still live in Seattle. We are all still friends.
We’re still heavily involved in the music/art/fun communities. We still party until 7am sometimes, extending the hand of friendship to anyone who wants or needs it. We’ve also grown up a little and go to bed at 9pm sometimes. Some have completed stints in college, others have started businesses, some are working to save the world (one espresso at a time).
That many of us faced the worst of humanity and have not lost our faith, in fact, have become stronger and more loving because of this is a testament to the resilience of humans. But no doubt, none of us would be doing as well as we are were it not for such incredibly supportive and loving personal and public communities.
More than anything, the connections between humans are what matter most. They are what brought us together for years before. They brought us together that night. They saved us in the aftermath. And they continue to propel us forward here and now.
Hold on to the people you love. Talk with them, work it out, and do things together that make your reality a better place. They’re the only thing that matters in the world.
– jesiah
PS – That cover should get a Pulitzer. By far the most moving and respectful image to run on any of the rags.
David, The Stranger, and readers,
Thank you.
I am one of the people that lived in the house, and good friend to several of the victims.
I’m on an email list with the parents and others that were brought together by this tragedy. Every year this date sneaks up on all of us. Every year it’s surprising (and not) how it goes by without much word from the media.
Not that any of us are aching to have this wound torn open publicly (again). Rather, it’s important to keep the dialog open and the memories alive, lest our friends died in vain. The aftermath of this tragedy was a remarkable thing to witness in Seattle. I feel blessed to be surrounded to this day by a community that promotes thoughtful, engaging discussion about everything in our lives, including the hard stuff.
So, thank you for this Slog post that contributes to keeping that dialog active here in the public realm.
Update:
I’m writing this from my home in Portland, surrounded to this day by many of the very people who I shared that home, that morning with. Many others still live in Seattle. We are all still friends.
We’re still heavily involved in the music/art/fun communities. We still party until 7am sometimes, extending the hand of friendship to anyone who wants or needs it. We’ve also grown up a little and go to bed at 9pm sometimes. Some have completed stints in college, others have started businesses, some are working to save the world (one espresso at a time).
That many of us faced the worst of humanity and have not lost our faith, in fact, have become stronger and more loving because of this is a testament to the resilience of humans. But no doubt, none of us would be doing as well as we are were it not for such incredibly supportive and loving personal and public communities.
More than anything, the connections between humans are what matter most. They are what brought us together for years before. They brought us together that night. They saved us in the aftermath. And they continue to propel us forward here and now.
Hold on to the people you love. Talk with them, work it out, and do things together that make your reality a better place. They’re the only thing that matters in the world.
– jesiah
PS – That cover should get a Pulitzer. By far the most moving and respectful image to run on any of the rags.
@28 There is not a single molecule of me that feels any shame what so ever. But whatever. I must have lost the memo that says I’m supposed to give a shit about what you think.