SEATTLE — Three women were injured during a shooting in North Seattle early Thursday morning, police say.
According to the Seattle Police Department, officers first responded to reports of gunfire near the intersection of Aurora Avenue N and N 96th Street at around midnight.
Arriving officers found an abandoned silver Ford riddled with bullet holes.
A short time later, police learned that three women had walked into UW Medical Center Northwest for treatment. One of the women had been shot multiple times, while the other two sustained injuries from shattered glass. All three women were reported to be in stable condition.
Medics later transferred the woman who had been shot to Harborview Medical Center for additional treatment.
Detectives determined the women were inside the Ford, facing west on North 96th Street, when a dark-colored sedan pulled in front of them. A suspect exited the sedan and opened fire on the Ford before getting back into the car. The suspect then left southbound on Aurora Avenue North, SPD reported.
Police say officers were doing proactive patrols in the area and were able to respond within about a minute. The city’s Real Time Crime Center was able to provide images of the suspect’s vehicle using cameras along the Aurora corridor.
We asked police if they had a suspect in mind.
“The investigation is leading us that way,” said Seattle Police Deputy Chief of Administration & Investigations Andre Sayles.
Detectives are working to determine what led up to the shooting, asking anyone with information to call the Seattle Police Department Violent Crimes Tip Line at (206) 233-5000.
Recent crime in the area prompted the city to set up temporary barriers blocking traffic on some of the residential streets that offshoot from Aurora Avenue.
City officials say these barriers are to prevent criminal activity from bleeding into the neighborhoods.
Neighbors say the barriers have helped reduce crime on residential streets, but that crime has spilled over to areas without them.
“I haven’t heard many shootings,” said Peter Orr, who lives in the area. “It’s staying more on Aurora. Doesn’t mean that the problem is gone. It’s been moved.”
Orr said he wishes police would do more than “show up for problems.”
“We’ve reduced it all to just a couple streets now because a lot of them are blocked off, so it’s basically on a silver platter for the police to take care of,” Orr said. “They just need to be there. Regularly.”
Police do proactive patrols in the area, but KIRO 7 asked if the department would consider stationing officers at problem spots.
“When you look at crime, crime is mobile,” Sayles said. “We don’t want our police officers just to be stationary at one location.”
Orr also said some neighbors have suggested Seattle Police set up a satellite precinct in a vacant property along Aurora Avenue. KIRO 7 asked about that too.
“We’re going to take all things into consideration,” Sayles said. “This is a thing that we’re gonna continue to push forward on.”
Seattle’s Department of Transportation confirmed to KIRO 7 that the road barriers are being evaluated and are “one part of a broader, coordinated City and King County effort to improve safety” in the area.
On Thursday, Councilmember Debora Juarez (District 5) and Councilmember Bob Kettle (District 7) issued a statement calling for more action in light of the shooting.
“Traffic barriers are good, but they are not enough. More needs to be done,” Juarez wrote.
“We need a comprehensive, non-stop effort that uses any and all tools available, 24/7,” Kettle wrote. “We cannot do anything less — incidents like this are not acceptable."
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