The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is investigating a “gun battle” that happened overnight in the Capitol Hill neighborhood where multiple people were involved in the shooting in an alley near the intersection of Pine Street and Melrose Avenue. Multiple vehicles and buildings were damaged but no injuries were reported, police said. Detectives are working with business owners to recover any surveillance video that may have captured the scene.
Diverse Capitol Hill is packed with hip bars, eateries and gay clubs, plus laid-back coffee shops and indie stores. Volunteer Park, atop the hill in a historic mansion district, has walking trails, a plant conservatory, panoramic city views and the art deco Asian Art Museum. It abuts Lake View Cemetery, where the city’s founders (and Bruce Lee) are buried. Kids play in the wading pool at smaller Cal Anderson Park.
According to East Precinct radio reports and witnesses, the 2:30 AM shootout came as “last call” crowds moved around this edge of the Pike/Pine nightlife district, shattering glass at a nearby restaurant, riddling parked vehicles with bullets, and sending bullets flying into nearby apartments. A paid parking sign with bullet holes marked the area where callers reported seeing the shootout begin in the alley behind the under construction Pivot mixed-use development. Bullets reportedly entered nearby apartment units including one above Melrose and a bullet crashing through a window of a Yale Ave building’s second floor.
Police raided the area, closing E Pine to traffic at Melrose as they collected shell casings, gathered evidence, and interviewed witnesses. At least one break-in alarm was activated by a bullet smashing the window of a restaurant at the corner.
Police were searching for at least one suspect seen fleeing the area eastbound on Pine carrying a gun and multiple vehicles reported leaving the scene at the time of the shooting but descriptions were limited and there were no immediate stops or arrests. Newly-elected Mayor Bruce Harrell held a press conference saying the city ‘won’t tolerate’ increases in violent crime, especially when someone uses a gun.
“I’ve also directed Chief Diaz to focus on the relatively few individuals causing the most harm on these places with a special focus on those using guns,” Harrell said during a press conference.
