After two recent shootings in White Center — one early Sunday that injured three men and another early Monday that sent a man to the hospital — the King County Sheriff’s Office will be stepping up random patrols in the neighborhood to combat violent crime.
“We are aware that violent crime is trending up. We will be adding deputies for increased emphasis patrols targeting crimes of violence,” Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht said in a news release.
Johanknecht said the patrols will be conducted at different times of the day to “increase visibility in areas where violent crime is likely to occur.”
The two recent shootings aren’t related and there is no indication either is gang-related, Sgt. Ryan Abbott, a sheriff’s spokesman, wrote in the release.
More than 40 shots were fired outside an after-hours club in an alley between 16th and 17th Avenues Southwest around 5:30 a.m. Sunday. One person called 911 to report hearing gunfire in the area of Southwest Roxbury Street and 17th Avenue Southwest, but a deputy initially couldn’t find a crime scene and cleared the call 30 minutes later.
Then at 6:13 a.m., three men with gunshot wounds showed up at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle: A 30-year-old man was still in critical condition Monday and a 29-year-old man was in serious condition, Abbott wrote. The third victim, a 28-year-old man, was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg and released from the hospital.
Just before 7 a.m., deputies determined the location of the shooting, where they found more than 40 shell casings.
In the second shooting, a 27-year-old man called 911 just before 8 a.m. Monday and reported he had been shot near his house in the 10600 block of First Avenue Southwest. The suspect, who is known to the man who was shot, fled before deputies arrived.
The victim, who was not forthcoming about what led to the shooting, was taken to Harborview with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. He is in serious condition.
White Center, a neighborhood in unincorporated King County between West Seattle and Burien, has been the site of two homicides so far this year, according to a Seattle Times database.
In January, deputies found the body of Martin Burton, 53, on the side of the road in the 10400 block of 15th Avenue Southwest, dead from a gunshot wound. Samuel Chhin, 25, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Burton’s death after a street robbery, court records show. Chhin remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.
In April, Joseph Anderson, 29, was shot by a male homeowner during an attempted residential burglary in the 9800 block of 13th Avenue Southwest. Anderson died at the scene, and sheriff’s officials later said the homeowner would not face criminal charges.