Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

A debate that seems to pop up each time a school shooting occurs is back in the news this week, thanks to a group of UW students. The raging topic of discussion? Whether students should be allowed to carry guns on college campuses.

A piece from the P-I details a group of students who are wearing empty gun holsters around campus to make a political statement:

As much as we like to think of a school as a safe zone, it's not safe," said Brian Yip, who heads up the UW's chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

I couldn't agree more with Yip, whose group has 25,000 members and counting nationwide.

While most college campuses say "no way" to the proposal, the idea that not allowing guns on campus is a victory for students safety seems to have gone by the wayside in recent years. It's become clear that folks who want to carry guns on to campuses will, and the results will be devastating if everyone is prepared.

Perhaps the best example to highlight a need to pack heat on campus comes, ironically, from Virginia.  In 2002, a disgruntled student at Appalachian Law School killed the dean, a professor, and a student.  When he exited the building, presumably looking for more victims, two other students were waiting with guns (which they had retrieved from their cars) and managed to take him down.

If responsible and sane students (with the proper licenses and permits of course) had been able to stay strapped on campus at Virginia Tech, one has to believe the rampage there would have been less devastating.  If anything could ruffle the feathers of a coward like Seung-Hui Cho, it's a taste of his own medicine.

The argument may have held little bearing in the years before V-Tech and the February massacre at Northern Illinois University, as college campus shootings were up until that point a uncommon trend. But, as they so often tend to do, times have changed. If we continue operating under the backwards assumption that preventing responsible citizens from carrying guns is good for society, we shouldn't be surprised when the school shootings continue to have devastating impacts.

It's like the old saying goes: "outlaw guns, and only outlaws will carry them." On a college campus, that makes racking up a body count as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

I received a tip from a reader this weekend that raises some interesting questions about crime in downtown Seattle - and whether the Seattle Police Department's heavily-hyped officer surge in the downtown area is working as well as expected.

Just don't tell the P.I. They seem to think these "patrols make downtown safer"; in fact, that's the name of the article I've linked to above. The piece is more than a month old, but paints the SPD's beefed up presence downtown in a favorable light, pointing to an increase in felony arrests for a range of crimes:

"I think what we've shown is that you can clear out an area and make it safer and bring its civility back," said Lt. Jim Fitzgerald, who oversees the deployment of the officers from the West Precinct.

The colder weather also contributes to a slowdown in activity, he said. And the intense focus has led to what police call "the toothpaste effect."

"You push it one area and it squirts out somewhere else," Fitzgerald said.

Some of the problems have moved into Belltown. Police also see street corner drug dealers moving farther east on Pike and Pine toward Capitol Hill from where they used to operate, Fitzgerald said.

SCB reader Susan has been feeling the impacts of this toothpaste effect for past couple weeks...and it's leaving a bad taste in her mouth. In a tip submitted this weekend, Susan wrote:

Today, January 12, at 1:40 a.m. I looked out my window onto Fourth Ave., because the crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk was becoming quite agitated and loud. I witnessed a man cross Fourth Ave. to his SUV parked on the east side of the street, then come back into the street in front of our apartment building. He pulled out a handgun and started firing shots from the middle of Fourth Ave., toward Spitfire (2219 Fourth Ave.).

After I dropped to the floor, my husband called 911. Police response was immediate, officers were on the scene in less than 30 seconds. I watched as officers marked spent bullet casings, I counted six that they marked and photographed in the street. Today I see that two windows at Spitfire are shattered by gunshots.

Is it just this week's Fourth Avenue Shootout? Are you aware that the same thing happened last Sunday morning, January 6, in the 1900 block of Fourth Avenue? Here is a link to the news story. [Note: as usual, all emphasis has been added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

I couldn't find anything in the local press regarding the weekend shooting at Spitfire. But if Susan's claim is accurate, and I don't have any reason to believe it isn't, we're presented with a troubling situation: same street, same type of violence, just a week apart.

Though the SPD's immediate response Susan mentions is commendable, it is interesting that gun violence could continue in this area for two weeks in a row - especially in a city like Seattle, where areas in and around the downtown core should be a safety model for the Emerald City's more spread out, less manageable neighborhoods.

We all know that the toothpaste effect is inevitable in a city of this magnitude and diversity. But weekly shootings in Belltown, a neighborhood that is quickly moving away from its grimy reputation, should be a major concern for city officials.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Interesting news in yesterday's P.I. on a case that piqued my interest when I first read of it this past summer. Remember that guy who led a trio of undercover police officers on a high speed chase throughout the city, ultimately leading to a shootout near Green Lake?

The driver-in-question, Jesse James Toro II, received his fate from a Superior Court Judge yesterday: surprisingly, he won't have to serve any time behind bars. (Though he was given a one year suspended sentence, and forced to surrender his concealed weapons permit).

This was an exciting case from the get-go: Undercover cops who hadn't identified themselves as such, a mid-summer chase that covered some serious distance across the city, an exchange of gunfire - including shots from a pistol owned by Toro, who like a badass managed to shoot out the tires from his aggressors' SUV and escape unwounded - and the subsequent blame game made this all quite exciting.

Just read this passage and tell me it doesn't read like something from an action movie:

Toro, 29, was behind the wheel of a Cadillac sedan in June when he got into an argument with three plainclothes members of the Seattle Police Department's vice squad. Stopped at a South Lake Union intersection, one of the officers shot Toro's car, and then the officers chased him north.

Having pulled away from the police -- the officers' civilian-style Ford SUV couldn't keep up with the more muscular Cadillac -- Toro stopped his car on a residential street in the Green Lake neighborhood. When the officers reappeared, Toro drew a pistol and shot out their vehicle's front tires.

I've never doubted that Toro handled this case exactly as he should have: if you're being chased through the city by a group of dudes - a group of dudes who you have no idea are police officers - then you have few options but to respond as he did. This could have ended with bad results had he not been packing, and I'd imagine the SPD would still be reeling from the fallout had it ended with any bloodshed.

But it seems pretty clear that Toro wouldn't have been so lucky in his sentencing if the details of the case were clearer; not only have there been conflicting reports over how many shots were fired and by who, he claims he had no idea the men shooting at him were SPD. From the P.I.:

Key facts of the night remain in question. Officers initially said they fired only one shot at Toro's car, missing it and striking a wall. But a bullet hole found in the side of the Cadillac seemed to disprove that.

Speaking after he received his sentence Friday, Toro said he believes officers fired at him more than once during the initial altercation. He also believes they shot at him while racing after him on the Aurora Bridge.

"There was a point in the chase when I thought they were going to kill me," Toro said. "I had no idea it was the Seattle police."

Toro is a lucky guy. I still don't think he should have lost his right to carry a gun; it seems like having a concealed weapon may very well have saved his life in this situation. But at least he has a story for his grandkids. You can probably count the number of Seattle residents who've opened fire on the SPD and walked away, relatively unscathed, to tell about it...and Jesse James Toro has just made it onto the list.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This just in, as reported by the Tacoma News-Tribune: Dominick Maldonado, the 22-year-old man who went on a shooting spree at the Tacoma Mall in 2005, has received his sentence.

How long can he expect to spend behind bars?

163+ years.

That was more than I had expected (I was guessing a clean 99 years), but the testimony of his victims during sentencing probably helped Judge Linda Lee make up her mind.

Before Lee told him his life story, Maldonado, distancing himself from the strung out/meth using/text messaging child described in initial media reports, admitted his faults...sort of.

“I do take full responsibility,” he said.

But he also criticized the justice system, saying that he thought he was treated unfairly.

Come on. Anyone who knows the first thing about apologizing will know that when directly followed by the word "but," the sincerity behind an apology instantly goes down the drain.

"Unfairly" doesn't seem appropriate in this case. The facts were plain and simple from the beginning...there was never any question about his guilt. If you take "full responsibility," then fess up: realize that you made an incredibly stupid decision - one that permanently ruined your victims' lives, all because you were caught up in a drug-induced emofest - and take your punishment like a man.

And for a babyfaced 22 year old like Maldonado, about to spend the rest of his natural life with large men behind bars in an American correctional facility, one can only imagine how unpleasant that punishment will be.

The above picture of Dominick Maldonado was initial provided to the AP by the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, and taken from this CNN story.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Dominick Maldonado, convicted last month of a November 20, 2005 shooting spree at the Tacoma Mall, will be sentenced this afternoon. If he gets the prison term many are expecting, Maldonado is looking at 100+ years in the can.

Lights & Sirens has the details:

The 22-year-old man will be sentenced in front of Pierce County Superior Court Judge Linda Lee at 1:30 p.m. at the Pierce County Courthouse.

...

Maldonado was convicted by a jury last month. They found him guilty of 15 crimes stemming from his actions at the mall: One count of attempted second-degree murder, six counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, four counts of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The Seattle Crime Blogger will be watching the newswire throughout the afternoon, and once the sentence is announced, I'll have the details.

Any bets on the length of Maldonado's sentence? Post them in the comments before 1:30 p.m...

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

As anybody who has been in high school can attest, there is a certain sense of satisfaction that can only come from vehicular pranks.

It is almost a rite of passage for teenagers - experiencing for the first time that freedom behind the wheel - to take the pranks that define a young man's existence and bring them inside an automobile. In the precious few years where you're old enough to drive but not yet an adult in the eyes of the court, when you understand the world but that world stops at the county line, everything from water balloon wars to a night of urban catcalling seems to be fair game.

But any veteran thrill seeker will tell you the first rule of success is to exercise discretion. Unfortunately for four young men from Mt. Si High School who left home without the slightest bit of creativity or common sense, that lesson was learned the hard way.

The Times has the details: the four students were in an SUV cruising North Bend (a sleepy town nestled beneath the mountains east of Seattle, known best as the setting for David Lynch's cult television classic Twin Peaks) armed with pellet guns. After a pair of 15-year-old girls got off a school bus, the shooters chased them with guns blazing to the front steps of one girl's home.

Unfortunately for them, they had messed with the wrong 15 year old.

Parked outside the home was a State Patrol car and inside was the girl's father, a state trooper and former Navy Seal. Upon hearing the distraught girls' story, he leapt into his patrol car and followed the boys as they sped away, troopers said.

The trooper stopped the boys on a dead-end road near Rattlesnake Lake, pulled his gun and took them into custody, according to the Patrol. All of the boys have criminal records, the Patrol said. The girls, also students at Mount Si, had minor injuries.

Oops.

UPDATE: Well, the Times article is a bit misleading. According to this document at the Mt. Si High School website, the shooters were using Airsoft guns that shot plastic BBs, not traditional air guns that shoot lead pellets. The document also claims that there was no prior relationship between the shooters and the victims.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Yesterday I wrote about a news brief from The Seattle Times that told of a young man's shooting death, providing a vague description of the facts surrounding the case (specifically, the article neglected to mention how someone managed to shoot the victim while he slept in his girlfriend's house, with her by his side).

A more in-depth piece today sheds some light on this sad, bizarre case:

Nick DeSimone, 19, had been sleeping at the home of his 16-year-old girlfriend's parents in the Warm Beach neighborhood near Stanwood when the shooting occurred, according to the sheriff's office.

DeSimone was shot in the head as he and his girlfriend slept on the floor in front of the television, according to the report. The girl woke up after hearing a loud pop and smelling smoke, but thought she was dreaming, the report said.

The girl told detectives she didn't notice DeSimone had been shot. Her father discovered the man's head injury when he attempted to awaken him later, according to the report. The girl called 911 around 4:30 a.m. to report that DeSimone was hurt.

The girl's ex-boyfriend was arrested. Though he hasn't been formally charged, a neighbor reported seeing a car that closely matched his in the neighborhood around that time. Chances are they've got their man.

What a shame. The victim seemed like a good kid - he went to school, played soccer and seemed to come from a loving family. His girlfriend's ex let jealousy get the better of him, and will likely be paying for it for the rest of his life. A sad situation all around.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (1)

I was reading The Seattle Times website a few minutes ago and came across this article. Note the headline: "Man shot dead near Stanwood identified."

Okay, fine. But then look at the content of the (brief) piece:

A 19-year-old man who was found shot to death Monday morning in Stanwood has been identified by family members as Nicholas Desimone.

Snohomish County sheriff's deputies were called to a home in the 19300 block of 96th Avenue Northwest shortly before 5 a.m. Monday, when a woman reported waking up to find her boyfriend wasn't breathing. Officers discovered the man was dead, with obvious signs of trauma to his body, according to the Sheriff's Office. Other family members of the girlfriend were in the house when the victim was discovered. No arrests have been made.

This leaves me with more questions than it answers. Doesn't "shot dead" normally imply that someone was going about their daily business, during which they were shot? And, more importantly, how was the boy shot while sleeping with his girlfriend?

Maybe they weren't in the same bed - the article doesn't specify, but says she woke up to find him not breathing (which makes me think they were together, or at least close enough that she could wake up and look at him to notice something was wrong). And whether he was in the same bed or elsewhere in the house...how did nobody hear the gunshots that the headline indicates killed him? Nowhere in the article does it say where he was shot, just that his body had "obvious signs of trauma."

Guess we'll have to wait to find out more. Stay tuned...