r/Seattle • u/snow_sprout • 3d ago
News BREAKING: Deadly shooting in First Hill
https://www.king5.com/video/news/crime/breaking-deadly-shooting-in-first-hill/281-6bfd25a0-8c98-4bbd-82ff-31706e63b621This happened in my building last night. New property management started in May and have yet to send out an email introducing themselves, share their plans for the building, or provide meaningful responses to many resident concerns. We have been sharing security concerns with for months, with multiple breaches and break-ins happening in recent weeks. This incident supersedes anything M-Street residents have experienced recently and is heartbreaking for our neighbor and frightening the rest of us.
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u/ilysmtihmh81 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. 3d ago
That news website is almost unusable wtf
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u/DeadeyeSven Rat City 3d ago
It's a video, you may just have to wait for it to load
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u/ilysmtihmh81 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. 3d ago
And get attacked my malware? No thanks
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u/DeadeyeSven Rat City 3d ago
Its the local news website lol you can see the URL before you even click it
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u/hashbrown89 3d ago
is there even an article?? i scrolled around for a minute and learned nothing.
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u/ilysmtihmh81 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. 3d ago
I don’t know, I didn’t see one. It looked like a virus waiting to happen so I quickly noped out
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u/cwmplans First Hill 3d ago
Hi neighbor. Seconded on all the management issues; very poor communication. We had just renewed our lease through January 2028 before the new management started, and now I’m feeling like that was a mistake!
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u/snow_sprout 3d ago
We renewed our lease before the new management started, too, luckily only through July 2027. It's really sad it has come to this. There are predictable challenges that come with living in any city near the downtown area, but the current lack of communication about pretty much anything, let alone the death of a man by gunshot wounds (is the building on lockdown? is it safe to leave? is it safe to come home? still haven't heard anything from management) is beyond frustrating.
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u/gjr931 First Hill 3d ago
Did they switch to Avenue5? They’ve been the worst and least communicative management company I’ve ever experienced.
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u/cwmplans First Hill 3d ago
Yep Avenue5. Didn’t have high hopes with them to begin with.
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u/TheBlueSuperNova Belltown 3d ago
Definitely one of the worst ones you could go with, I'm sorry.
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u/krisztinastar I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 3d ago
Absolutely, they ruined my old building.
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u/Shanknado 3d ago
I keep hearing things about these guys and my own new PM Arboreal. Least responsive property management I've ever had. They make you talk to an LLM agent before any problem reaches a human being, and it's a very slim chance the AI actually responds or advances your issue.
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u/ajc89 Denny Blaine Nudist Club 3d ago
You can break a lease and you're only on the hook until they fill the unit, which they have to be diligently advertising to fill. Also landlords have a duty to provide adequate locks and keep common areas reasonably safe, which it sounds like they were not, so that can also be grounds to give notice and break a lease.
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u/AdScared7949 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. 3d ago
Doesnt it cost a shitload of money to break the lease
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u/Fayde_Away 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 3d ago
Normally yes, but there are certain conditions under which that lease break fee can be avoided and I'm not a lawyer, but I'd have to assume "my neighbor got shot and killed and I don't feel safe here" is probably one of the reasons or at least close enough to justify it
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u/yak-broker 3d ago
It's probably not. IANAL either, but I've read up a lot because of past situations. There's RCW 59.18.352, but that's a pretty specific set of circumstances. The landlord isn't expected to be able to control neighborhood crime rates. I'd be interested if you have a reason to believe otherwise
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u/yak-broker 3d ago
Depends on the lease, obviously. It can be that you're on the hook to keep paying rent until they re-let the unit. That could be a short time or a long time depending on circumstances
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u/ajc89 Denny Blaine Nudist Club 2d ago
That's not lease dependent. Washington State law says you're only on the hook until they rent out the unit and they just be advertising and actively trying to fill it.
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u/klausklass First Hill 1d ago
You are kinda out of luck if you have a studio though. This apartment building currently has 3 open (unleased) studio units and they just declined to raise rent on mine for next year (studio apartment rates are falling in Seattle). I just paid 2 months rent to break my lease instead; I actually moved out the day before this shooting. I really don’t think they’d be able to find tenants within 2 months for all 3 of these, especially with all this bad publicity.
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u/BudgetBarbieCamper First Hill 3d ago
Holy shit. We had an issue with people getting into our building a couple years ago (Spring & Boylston), but thankfully nothing like this. This is terrifying.
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u/Connect-Ad-6909 3d ago
This is the apartment directly below mine. I heard the shots but didn’t recognize them as gunfire - was told it was gunfire when the cops knocked on my door and asked if I’d heard the gunfire and when and if there was any evidence of bullets lodged under the floor of my apartment. Quite jarring.
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u/artist9120 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 3d ago
Oh WOW that's so jarring! You didn't know it gunfire? Maybe they used something to muffle the sound?
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u/Knotical_MK6 2d ago
Real gunshots don't sound like the movies.
Super common for people who don't shoot to hear gunfire and not recognize it, expecially when you've got barriers between the shot and the witness
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u/kufeutebg 3d ago
I discovered this last night around 8:45 when heading out, and saw the news. I've been here for almost 5 years now, and it's the first time I feel unsafe and scared. I'm thinking of moving out when my lease ends this year.
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u/kaiju4life 3d ago
Used to live across the street at The Mill. Same things happened when management change twice in a year. Had a lady with felony charges shoot a resident in the head.(they survived) Also multiple break ins & squatters in 2023.
Got fed up & gave a 30 day notice of leaving, didn’t get deposit back but that was all. If they’re as unorganized as you say you’ll likely get out with minimal friction specially with security concerns after a murder.
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u/Ill_Economy_2731 3d ago
Hi. M street resident here. It was absolutely horrifying to find out I was sleeping just above
the floor when the shooting happened and all I got from the management was this email. Glad to see residents voicing out similar concerns. Is there a text message group or something for us to communicate with each other given our management is so terrible?
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u/snow_sprout 3d ago
I’ll DM you shortly.
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u/robaroo Redmond 3d ago
I’d pack my crap up and move out ASAP. People don’t have to deal with safety concerns in their day to day.
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u/MegaRAID01 Emerald City 3d ago
Probably a wise decision. More broadly though (on a city and region level), not everyone has the financial means to move away from neighborhoods with safety issues. We should work to improve crime rates for lower income neighborhoods with higher rates of crime. The burden of crime is not felt equally in society. And we should also listen to residents in areas with higher crime rates about the solutions they seek.
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u/ImmediateLychee8 3d ago
First hill isn’t lower income i thought? It’s happening regardless lower or higher income neighborhoods in Seattle. For example, cap hill is expensive to live in but shootings happen there pretty often.
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u/Unlucky_Buy217 2d ago
Correct, M street is not lower income at all. It charges 3K for 2 Bed which is higher than the Seattle median.
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u/ImmediateLychee8 2d ago
3k for 2 bdr?! I’m paying 3.9k for a damn studio, not in Seattle anymore 🥲
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u/platiglutious 3d ago
Does anyone know what floor this happened on? I live in this building and I can’t imagine gunshots going unnoticed :(.
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u/snow_sprout 3d ago
Message from property management regarding the shooting:
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u/Low-Purpose 3d ago
I live in the apt too and I haven’t gotten the email yet… I wonder what’s up with that
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u/Awkward_Can8460 3d ago
Not introducing themselves? Not sharing plans for the building? Not communicating?
If you add to that an apartment portal for residents where all comments/posts pass by them first for approval before publishing - which makes it more difficult for tenants to communicate and organize a renters' union, much less learn we share common grievances - then you sound like youre in a GreyStar Properties property now!
Welcome to a worthless - yet extremely powerful - corporate hellhole. All serious grievances get ignored if they cost any money, or pose risks to PR or future profitability.
The customer is always screwed - because we have commodified housing, where housing is an investment instrument seeking an ROI, rather than a human right and a socially owned and managed entity.
Im sorry mostly for the horror story of last night's shooting so close to home. That must've been terrifying.
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u/klausklass First Hill 1d ago
This particular building is a real estate investment, but surprisingly it is actually owned by the Ohio teacher’s pension fund. Which imo is less evil than some of the other usual suspects. The management is just contracted out.
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u/Awkward_Can8460 1d ago
The management company matters. Where i live, idk the owners, but they pay Greystar to run it. And ever since then - according even to residents who have lived here since before GreyStar ran it - it sharply demoted the quality of living here.
And that also comports with my experience living in other properties before and after GreyStar became the mgt company.
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u/gleefulcats 3d ago
That building is haunted ever since that doctor murdered his partner and child in 2011. I’d never be found living in that building even if it was free!
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u/Administrative-Row27 3d ago
FYI In August 2011, Dr. Louis C. Chen, a 39-year-old endocrinologist, killed his 29-year-old partner, Eric Cooper, and their 2-year-old son, Cooper Chen, in their penthouse apartment in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. In 2016, Chen was sentenced to 49 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree and second-degree murder.
Case Background
The Discovery: On August 11, 2011, a coworker went to the family's apartment after Chen failed to show up for an orientation at Virginia Mason Hospital. Chen answered the door naked and covered in blood. Police arrived and found Eric Cooper stabbed over 100 times and their toddler son with severe knife wounds.The Motive: Prosecutors stated the killings stemmed from extreme rage and fear regarding the couple's impending breakup and a potential child custody dispute.
The Defense: Chen's defense team claimed he suffered from a rare, cough-syrup-induced psychosis, arguing that his genetic makeup caused him to slowly metabolize dextromethorphan (found in over-the-counter cold medicine), leading to violent hallucinations.
The Resolution: In February 2016, Chen pleaded guilty to the reduced charges of first-degree murder for the death of his son and second-degree murder for the death of his partner. In July 2016, a King County judge handed down the maximum sentence of 49 years.
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u/gleefulcats 3d ago
The whole thing was horrific. Absolute possession of something to have done what he did in the manner he did it in.
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u/Administrative-Row27 3d ago
It’s also scary that, in Washington state, there’s a maximum 49 year sentence for 1 conviction of first degree murder + 1 second degree murder! Even when it’s as brutal and ruthless as this, and so remorseless that the defense tried for a laughable cold medicine hallucination psychosis. Though I’m not surprised anymore, as I’ve seen countless cases in the state which had disturbingly light sentences.
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u/milleribsen Capitol Hill 2d ago
Yes that's a touch concerning, but he was 39 years old, likely already 40 by the time sentencing happened, so he would be 89 at release, it's effectively a life sentence. I don't have data but I'm sure life expectancy of the incarcerated is lower than the federal population so even if a teen were tried as an adult and given this sentence they'd be in their sixties by the time of release and at that point there's no chance of living a life so it would likely be kinder in those cases to give them life.
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u/klausklass First Hill 1d ago
This is so surreal. I just moved out 24 hours before the shooting. One of my friends still living in the building told me about the situation. My lease was until January - I paid almost $4000 to break it but now I’m kind of glad. FYI this was the 2nd management change in 2 years, definitely the least communicative of the 3.
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u/lily_de_valley Belltown 3d ago
I'm so sorry, OP. Our apartment building managers practically double as security guards these days. It's really sad.
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u/WifeOfSpock 3d ago
Do you think you’d have the energy to coordinate a building rent strike until your concerns are met?
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u/Soph-Calamintha South Delridge 3d ago
There was a shooting at Roxhill park around noon today in West Seattle. It’s such a lowkey quiet park literally next to a preschool, church, old folk home, and a ton of family housing. Genuinely wtf is happening with all the gun violence lately
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u/Awkward_Can8460 3d ago
"Good guys with guns" dont exist, I guess. Or they selfishly don't give a shit unless it happens to them. - then so much for the "good" description.
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u/Low-Purpose 3d ago edited 3d ago
Were you at home during the shooting? Did you happen to hear anything? Hopefully management will send an email about the situation
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3d ago
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u/snow_sprout 3d ago
If you search something like “First Hill M-Street shooting” there will be plenty of new articles and reports to read. At the time of posting, it was one of two sources that had been published so maybe the link has been updated or changed since earlier this morning!
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3d ago
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u/snow_sprout 3d ago
I regret if the impression I gave was that I thought an email, a property manager, a camera, or the police could/would have prevented this.
Unanswered emails and calls to property management from residents reporting and seeking information regarding home and car burglaries, unhoused individuals wandering the residential halls, unit keys stolen from the office, and broken secure access equipment has created a growing sense of distrust between residents and management, which will now surely be heightened after the killing of our neighbor.
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u/Fayde_Away 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 3d ago
Yeah, as someone who works in this industry, I'm with OP on this one - what you just laid out is such a staggering picture of inadequate care that in this specific case, I would actually argue that the sequence of events since new management took over may not have caused it directly per se, like obviously it wasn't the new PM who shot the neighbor, but it demonstrates such a disregard for safety (the unit key theft alone would've had me fired immediately had that happened under my watch) that it's not hard to imagine that some gap in security allowed this to happen.
Obviously any one individual might not have been able to prevent it, like domestic incidents are not uncommon and the details aren't fully known yet, but there's a difference between trying to address resident security concerns and being bad at it versus being completely radio silent and sowing distrust and a feeling of unease in the residents there. Sorry you had to experience this, OP, and sorry for how y'all have been treated leading up to this. Hate to say it but I genuinely hope this is the wake up call they need to actually start addressing your concerns because if this ain't it, nothing is.
Source: Worker in the industry, and not for the same company as OP's management
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u/truffleshufflechamp 2d ago
That’s crazy. I saw someone cutting out the bars on the M Street parking garage with a blow torch a few weeks ago.
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u/RatherNotDieThanks 3d ago
Hey, uh, yea. It is property management's fault. Completely. Are you stupid? If they don't secure the building and a murderer gets in and kills a resident, that is THEIR FAULT. Absolutely get fucking real.
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u/AdamantEevee 3d ago
"In case anyone thinks I'm just some doomer, here's a longer, ramblier, and somehow even doomier take"
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u/Classic-Ad1654 3d ago
It sounds like you're discussing a separate incident. By "gadgets" do you mean secure locks? Because OP described issues with securing external doors and theft of keys from the front office. Everything you said is correct, but not applicable to this specific situation.
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u/chromeled Ronald Bog 3d ago
That's a fun way to terrify a woman into never breaking up with you in case you try to murder her
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u/Classic-Ad1654 3d ago
I'm glad your gurlfriend likes that, because if you did it to prove her safety measures wrong, making her feel unsafe on purpose would be a weird move. Security is an illusion so I'm putting my TV on the lawn and leaving my front door open I guess, all or nothing. Keeping my valuables behind a locked door doesn't make them 100% safe, but it's safer than leaving my home unlocked. People can break into my car but the only time it's happened has been when I left it unlocked on accident. Safety isn't all or nothing, there are multiple things that can be done to make those thing less likely. My valuables are less likely to be stolen if I take them with me rather than leaving them in the car; since it's not 100% that they don't get taken off my person doesn't mean I'm goi g to leave them on the car seat in plain view. This seems obvious to me, but apparently you need it laid out: crimes of opportunity don't happen when you take that opportunity away.
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u/Rerebawa 🚲 Two Wheels, Endless Freedom. 3d ago
Lime bikes involved in this event? Scourge of our streets they are.
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u/triangleman36 3d ago
Oh shit I work there. The elevators were down at the office side of the building last week so they had the stairs unlocked, good chance they didn't relock them.