( Post Millennial )
A suspect is in custody after a shooting in downtown Seattle in the middle of the morning on Tuesday left one person injured and killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child.
At approximately 11:00 am, Seattle Police officers responded to multiple calls about shots fired at an occupied vehicle near 4th Avenue and Lenora Street. Responding officers found a white Tesla with bullet holes in it, including through the passenger side window, and two people with gunshot wounds. Officers provided emergency first aid to the victims until medics from the Seattle Fire Department arrived.
According to police, based on information provided by witnesses officers were able to locate a suspect a short distance from the scene and took him into custody. A firearm was also recovered.
Medics transported the two victims – a 34-year-old pregnant female with life-threatening injuries and a 37-year-old male with non-life-threatening injuries – to Harborview Medical Center for further treatment.
According to police, after arriving at Harborview Medical Center, and despite all lifesaving efforts by medical professionals, the 34-year-old pregnant female succumbed to her injuries and her unborn child died.
SPD’s Crime Scene Investigation Unit was called to the scene, along with Homicide detectives who will lead the investigation.
Crime has continued to spike in Seattle in the wake of the city council’s efforts to defund the police in 2020. Close to 600 officers have been separated from the department. Homicides are on track to eclipse last year’s record numbers.
911 response times have increased, and Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz recently ordered officers not to pursue suspects.
Just blocks away, while the shooting and response were occurring, Seattle Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell was speaking about public safety at the grand re-opening of City Hall Park, the former site of a notorious homeless encampment.
Emergency vehicles were seen racing by to respond to the shooting and sirens drowned out the speakers at the event.
The deadly encampment was cleared in 2021 after 3-5 assaults a week nearby, a fatal stabbing, a dog being kicked to death, and a woman was attacked and sexually assaulted by a homeless, prolific offender, who managed to sneak inside a bathroom of the King County Courthouse next door.
Even though restoration of the park took only a few months, the park remained closed and fenced off until Tuesday.
Sources at the city told The Post Millennial that the park remained closed for so long because the city could not guarantee that campers and crime would not return to the area.
Squalor in the city has gotten so bad that business and community groups are partnering with the Seattle Mariners to host a community clean-up event to get “key areas” of the city “ready for the national stage” in anticipation of the upcoming MLB All-Star Week in the city in July.
Drug use and homelessness are so rampant in the area that in April, King County passed the 2020 annual total of drug overdoses, only 6 months into 2023, according to data from Seattle-King County Public Health.
It was reported in January that the King County medical examiner was running out of places to store the dead bodies due to the number of fentanyl overdoses.
Despite the increasing drug crisis, last week the Seattle City Council rejected a bill that would have empowered the City Attorney to prosecute drug possession and public drug use.
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