There was a large police response to east Green Lake tonight (Thursday, May 19, 2011).
At about 9:15 p.m., approximately 20 Seattle Police cars arrived at the Circa Green Lake building (6900 E Green Lake Way N), according to several witnesses.
Donna Hudson, co-owner of zoeyogurt, says that a police officer entered the yogurt shop and told customers and staff to get behind the wall separating the restrooms from the general seating area. The police officer then crouched to the ground at the front door with his gun drawn towards the street, Donna says.
Another witness, Russ Hepner, told me that he saw a police officer on NE Ravenna Blvd with a semi-automatic firearm drawn. He also says he saw police driving a man’s van away from the scene.
When I arrived at zoeyogurt at 9:35 p.m., police were taking a man into custody on the street in front of the shop. I spoke with Sgt. Dyment, who told me that “this looks like a road rage incident.”
Shannon Fears of seattlepi.com reports that police said a man called 911 to report shots fired at his car while traveling on Aurora Avenue N. Police, however, could not initially find a gun or property damage.
“No injuries were reported,” according to Fears, “and there was later speculation that the shooting report was bogus.”
Update, 10:50: Jonah Spangenthal-Lee of seattlecrime.com is reporting that the initial incident took place near Seattle Center, at Aurora Ave N and Mercer St, at approximately 9:15 p.m.
“Details are still a bit murky,” Spangenthal-Lee says, “but it appears someone in a vehicle opened fire on another driver on Aurora Avenue N. At least one of the vehicles exited Aurora around 50th and Greenlake.”
The scene at zoeyogurt at 9:50 p.m. Earlier in the evening, a police officer told the occupants of the yogurt shop to go behind the wall in front of the restrooms.
