At around 5:30 p.m. at the 110 block of Lake City Way, police responded to a call where a woman was found in the street with severe lacerations on her face.
According to Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel, the woman was assaulted by a recent acquaintance in a nearby apartment building. She was then shoved out of the complex onto the street, where a neighbor witnessed what was happening and aided her while calling 911. The suspect, described as a black male, 48, around 6 ft. and 170 lbs., ran back into the apartment.
A witness, Jackie, saw the woman out on the street as she was driving by and described the victim as having blood all over her face. The woman was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. Her condition is unknown.
SWAT units surrounded the building and attempted to make contact with the suspect for hours, calling through a bullhorn for him to hang up his phone so they could talk to him. SWAT officers repeatedly shot wooden dowels at the window of the suspect’s apartment to get his attention while asking him to contact them.
Despite cordoning off the area and rerouting traffic away from the line of fire, police did not evacuate the building.
At around 10 p.m. SWAT breached the apartment to find the suspect was not there.
Hmm. I was on a 522 bus that went through that area around 6:30. Lake City Way itself was certainly not blocked off.
I drove through there around 7:15-ish, and Lake City Way still wasn’t blocked off. There were tons of cop cars everywhere, though.
Also, typical Seattle police work. Nobody was there, but it took them hours to figure it out.
I was on a bus that was rerouted around this activity at 9pm. There were a couple of SWAT vans and at least a dozen regular police cars positioned all around the area. It’s amazing that the guy, what, just slipped out the back door?
The SPD only know how to take care of the important things, like prostitution rings, gay bars and noise complaints. Wooden dowels? What the fuck?
“Have A Lucky Weekend, Everybody”
‘specially you boys in blue and cracked out Lake City peeps.
kissyface douchewads.
Oh, thanks for telling me the suspect’s weight in pounds. If I see a guy who weights 170 lbs. who looks like he could have lacerated his g.f.’s face and run away last night, I will call the cops, is that the idea?
Will do.
Maybe they crack down on gay bars because it makes them feel like they are accomplishing something? Obviously real police work is beyond what they can do.
It was Alpha!
Er, and fine police work…
why didn’t they just knock on/kick down his door? i get the feeling we’re missing important information that might explain the police’s tactics (gramps was a cop – i gotta give em the benefit of the doubt…)
Four squad cars to take care of one guy with a knife? Teevee face time always helps. Good for leverage with up-coming budget cuts.
Taking the 522 north this morning (around 8:25am) and there were at least six police cars out on Lake City Way. I guess the hunt is still on until the next morning.
@11: Yeah, what are the odds that something else requiring police intervention would ever happen in that neighborhood? Really, it had been dead quiet for thirty five years until last night.
@12: Knowing SPD, probably the vice squad checking Deja Vu to make sure the strippers are following the law.
eh .. i cut the cops some slack on this one. when we don’t want them to go in guns blazing, we do want them to be measured and extra careful. that seems exactly what they did in this case, and i don’t think i have a problem with it.
those comical black people!
Maybe the suspect is hiding at a strip club or massage parlor? The SPD will search for months.
@16: It’s more likely that he will jaywalk.
Somebody’s getting fired. This is comical.