SeaTac, Wash. — There have been more than 400 police calls for service at a SeaTac Motel 6 in 2017, after “over 660 police calls for service” last year, according to investigative documents obtained by KIRO 7.
The motel is located at 18900 47th Avenue South in SeaTac, just off I-5. Its parking lot is where 27-year-old Justin Love was shot and killed on Aug. 31, 2016.
John Killarzoac was wounded during the same incident, hit by a bullet while getting out of the shower.
“When I fell, I told my mom, get down on the ground! Get down on the ground,” Killarzoac told a KIRO 7 news crew that day.
Both Love and Killarzoac were renting rooms at the Motel 6 mentioned in documents filed this week in King County Superior Court as part of an ongoing, unrelated investigation.
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A Kent man, 40-year-old Rodney Candies Wheeler, awaits trial on charges of murder and assault while efforts to increase safety at the SeaTac motel are ongoing.
According to documents, "There have been hundreds of drug and prostitution related cases that have come out of this motel and its parking lot in recent years,” including "homicides, assault, stolen cars, shootings, gang activity" and more.
Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office explained that the hundreds of police "calls for service" do not mean hundreds of separate crimes committed, but indicate how often deputies show up, sometimes just to check, in addition to 911 responses. Each time is considered a "police call," according to West.
Still, she admitted the motel “has been a problem for us.”
“The good news is, you can see that the numbers have come down significantly, from 600 to 417,” West said.
KIRO 7 visited the motel on Wednesday seeking comment about the hundreds of police calls for service mentioned in documents, but an employee said no one was available for an on-camera interview.
He did say the motel has hired a security guard and now enforces a parking policy, so drug dealers can't loiter. He also said the motel has started keeping a "Do Not Rent" list to keep habitual local criminals from booking rooms.
Cox Media Group
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