The Morning Blotter: Police Investigating Greenwood Drive-By
A dispute between two men at a party ended in a hail of bullets outside of a Greenwood apartment building last month, police documents say.
According to a police warrant affidavit released on Friday, detectives investigating a May 15th drive-by shooting recovered a half-dozen .22 caliber bullet casings and found bullet holes in a vehicle parked at 105th and Greenwood.
The man who was apparently targeted in the shooting told officers and gang unit detectives he had attended a party at a co-worker's home earlier in the evening and got into a dispute with another man when he realized his cellphone was missing. The argument escalated into a fight and the victim was knocked unconscious, police records say.
The victim left the party, the two men continued their dispute over the phone, and the victim challenged the other man to come finish the fight.
A short time after, witnesses saw a Samoan man open fire out of a white SUV outside the victim's apartment building at about 3:00am, leaving several bullet holes in the victim's vehicle, and shattering a glass door on the victim's balcony.
A police warrant affidavit says the suspect later called the victim and told him "Man, I'm sorry. Shit got kinda out of control."
Although the victim did not provide police with much information about the incident—he told officers he was afraid of retaliation—police identified a suspect and went to the man's home at 73rd and 23rd NW in Ballard.
Police found a white Buick Rendevous SUV, but were unable to contact the suspect who, the affidavit notes, has five prior convictions—three of which involved weapons.
Officers impounded the Buick and later found two shell casings matchng the ones found at the scene and a wallet belonging to the suspect.
Police later contacted the suspect over the phone and asked him about the incident and evidence they had found in his car. Records indicate the man could not explain why witnesses had seen him at the scene and why police had found shell casings in his vehicle.
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed.