Tag Archives: jungle

Crime

Two men attacked, one injured in greenbelt under I-5

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by Ray Marcham, KOMO Communities
(Beacon Hill Blog news partners)

A man is being treated at Harborview Medical Center after an attack at the Jungle, near the Beacon Hill greenbelt.

According to Seattle Police, two men arrived at the Metro bus facility at Airport Way and Atlantic Street at around 1:30 a.m. and said they had been attacked nearby. Police were called soon after, and they were told that the men had been attacked nearby.

Officers were told that the men were under I-5 in the Jungle when two other men approached them. One man was hit with a rock by one of the suspects, while another suspect bit the victim on the neck and bit off part of the victim’s lower lip.

The two suspects then grabbed the victim’s wallet and left on a bicycle. The man who was with the victim was not injured.

The uninjured man told officers that the attackers had been seen in the Jungle a few weeks earlier, but they were not known.

Crime

SPD officers tour greenbelt investigating recent gunfire

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On Monday, about 40 officers from the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Corrections searched the “Jungle,” the greenbelt on northwest Beacon Hill, looking for possible weapons and shooting victims after nearby neighbors reported the sounds of gunfire within the greenbelt. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee (formerly with The Stranger, Seattle Crime, and Publicola, now with the SPD) wrote an interesting post (with photos) on the search at the SPD Blotter blog:

After a day of crisscrossing overgrown, muddy pathways along the west side of Beacon Hill Monday, three South Precinct officers stand on a leaf-covered hillside just below Holgate Street, digging up a patch of dirt.

They’re looking for a body.

The officers, along with dogs trained to find weapons or human remains, spent seven hours trekking through the woods and interviewing more than 150 people living in and around the greenbelt. No weapons were found, and the only remains found turned out to belong to an animal.

The Community Police Team will revisit the greenbelt with social workers and representatives of the Department of Neighborhoods over the next week to assist those living in the “Jungle” in connecting with needed social services.

Crime

Melee at Saigon Nice, gunshots in the Jungle

Map showing the locations of the two disturbancesJonah Spangenthal-Lee of SeattleCrime.com reports on a melee that occurred last night at Saigon Nice, 4864 Beacon Avenue South. In the brawl, several victims received stab wounds, probably from broken beer bottles, and other victims received impact injuries from chairs, fists, and the like. There were at least six victims, and according to the Seattle Police report, “a lot of blood inside” the club. Some witnesses were less than helpful, according to Spangenthal-Lee, having “apparently developed what one officer referred to as ‘temporary amnesia.'”

This is not the first occurrence of trouble at Saigon Nice. We reported on a stabbing incident there in November 2008, which followed another altercation earlier that week, and questioned then whether the establishment had been following the terms of the Good Neighbor Agreement they signed earlier that year with the North Beacon Hill Council.

Neighbors in North Beacon noticed police activity last night as well, including the Guardian One helicopter overhead and a larger number of police cruisers near 11th and Judkins. As Rose Egge reported in the KOMO blog this morning, there was a report of shots fired in The Jungle around 10:00 pm. Craig Thompson posted to the BAN list that it sounded like a semi-automatic firing three short bursts. Witnesses saw two black men and a woman get into a silver car and drive away; police found shell casings in the area, but no suspects or victims.

Crime, Health and Safety

Jungle cleanup, sidewalk flooding, and overserving among topics on the BAN list

The Beacon Hill Alliance of Neighbors (BAN) mailing list has been quite active recently, and Travis Mayfield has been all over it for KOMO:

  • Update: Inside the Jungle — Craig Thompson details a recent excursion into the homeless encampment that runs along the west and north sides of the hill, alongside I-5 and I-90.
  • Sidewalk ‘Pools’ Raise Pedestrian Complaints — Complaints of flooded and obstructed sidewalks are addressed by neighborhood representative Steve Louie and City Councilmember Sally Clark.
  • Responding to Public Drunkeness — Tips on reporting “overserving” to the Washington State Liquor Control Board when observing evidence of public drunkeness.

Sign up for the BAN list at http://www.cityofseattle.net/ban/

Crime

Crime Notes: Dog park danger, Cheasty snatching, and more Jungle blues

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Kristy emailed us recently pointing to an article from the Laurelhurst blog about attacks at the Magnuson dog park. This ties together somewhat with Travis‘s article recently on the KOMO blog about our own sparsely-attended dog park near the Jose Rizal bridge.

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On the mailing list, Mahalie wrote of a break-in along Cheasty where a laptop was stolen sometime Friday night or Saturday morning. Monica added a note about a garbage bag full of someone else’s mail dropped next to her recycling Friday or the night prior. (Sharon who lives in the 9XXX block of Renton Avenue South, you may be interested to know your garbage has moved.)

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Another reported attack just off of Dearborn in “the Jungle” has been reported in the P-I by Casey McNerthney: Man found beaten with two-by-four. This is just the most recent report of violence and crime on the northern tippy-tip-tip of the hill next to I-90 in recent months.

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The Seattle Weekly pursues the Kino Gomez story further: Did Kino Gomez flee to die?

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Candidate visit, free trees, Jungle tour, and poetry

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You could grow these on your own tree, free from EarthCorps and the Mayors Office of Sustainability and the Environment. Photo by Erlomo.
You could grow these on your own tree, free from EarthCorps and the Mayor's Office of Sustainability and the Environment. Photo by Erlomo.
Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn, who seems to be attempting to court Southeast Seattle voters lately, is hosting a “town hall” meeting at the Jefferson Park community center at 8pm on Saturday, September 19th. He’ll also be at the Columbia City library earlier the same day, at 10:30am. (There probably won’t be much yelling at these town halls.)

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More free trees! EarthCorps and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment are looking to provide trees to residents to plant on private property or the planting/parking strips along the street in neighborhoods with low tree canopy coverage. There are several trees to choose from, including cherry trees. Check the EarthCorps site for more info and the application form.

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Craig Thompson takes KOMO’s Travis Mayfield for a walk in the Jungle. Video, too. And more at Travis’s personal blog.

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Garage sale Sunday near 28th and Ferdinand — Craigslist
You can post your own garage sale announcements in our Forum.

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The Chrysanthemum Literary Society’s inaugural poetry reading is this Saturday, the 19th, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at the Beacon Hill library.

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Don’t forget the other events coming up — like the Lucile Street block party this Saturday starting at noon! Check out the event calendar for more.

Beacon Bits, Crime, Health and Safety, Local Events

Beacon Bits: Jungle shooting, health inspections, Night Out block parties

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Crime

Man killed in late-night shooting in the Jungle

At around 11:30pm Friday night in the wooded area on the west side of the hill by the freeway known as “the Jungle”, a man in his 50s was shot. He died in surgery after being transported to Harborview.

Additional details from the SPDBlotter:

Preliminary information at the scene indicates that the shooting might have stemmed from an argument between the victim and another individual who camps in the same area.

The suspects, two or three males, ran southbound underneath the freeway. Officers set up containment, the King County Sheriff’s helicopter, Guardian One, was called in, and K9 tracked for while, but officers did not locate the suspects. Detectives from Homicide and CSI responded to process the scene. The Homicide Unit will be responsible for the follow up investigation.

Crime

Jungle murder suspect arrested

SPDBlotter brings this news:

“The Seattle Police Department is pleased to announce the arrest of the suspect in the September 11th, 2008 murder that occurred at 12:52 A.M. near the I-5 and I-90 interchange. Suspect Van Hoa Truong, a 53-year-old male, was arrested by Seattle Police SWAT team officers in the City of Renton on December 4th at approximately 6:15 P.M. Suspect Truong was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Homicide and narcotics violations.”

Local Events

Jungle and greenbelt plans to be discussed 10/21

The Jungle and the East Duwamish greenbelt have a notable (one might say infamous) impact on public safety in the west Beacon Hill area. Interested in the future of this area? Plan to attend a meeting this coming Tuesday to discuss creating a permanent public safety solution for the area. The meeting is October 21, 7:00 pm, at Quarters 1, PacMed Campus, on the northwest corner of 14th Avenue South and South Judkins Street .

Those attending will include Washington State Representative Sharon Tomiko-Santos, Lorena Eng of the Washington State Department of Transportation, and representatives from the City of Seattle Department of Transportation, Department of Neighborhoods, and the Mayor’s office, as well as directors from the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and others.

Thanks to Craig Thompson for the info!