7 shot dead at Zombie Rave afterparty in Seattle
got to be one of the weirdest things i've heard ...
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7 dead in Seattle shooting rampage
Mar. 25, 2006. 08:30 PM
SEATTLE (AP) — A gunman opened fire Saturday morning in a rented home in Seattle occupied by about 20 young partygoers, killing four young men and two women and critically injuring at least one other person before committing suicide when confronted by police on the steps outside.
William Lowe, 59, who lives across the street, said he heard six shots fired shortly after his alarm went off at 7 a.m. local time. He looked through the peephole of his door to see people scattering from the home, some with faces painted and hair dyed — "part of their party culture," said Seattle police spokesman Rich Pruitt.
One man staggered out and sat down, Lowe said, and a large man dressed in black came out carrying a shotgun across his chest. When an officer standing in the street told him to put the weapon down, he put the barrel in his mouth and fired.
Officers found three dead in the living room, one at the front door and another on the porch steps. Three people were taken to Harborview Medical Center; one died and another was in extremely critical condition. Officers transported about a dozen witnesses to a precinct to interview them.
The victims were in their late teens and early 20s, police said. Officers said they were not yet aware of a possible motive.
"It's one of the largest crime scenes the city has ever had," Kerlikowske said.
Dozens of rounds were fired in the house, where people — ranging from their early and mid-teens to mid-20s — gathered after a larger party called Better Off Undead in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood. Some of the guests were "made up to look as if they were dead," the chief said.
He said the shooter, who had left the party earlier and then returned and forced his way into the house, spraypainted the word NOW in orange on the sidewalk in front of two homes and on the steps of a third in the half-block between where he had parked his black pickup and the rented house.
The shooter is described as a local man in his late 20s.
Kerlikowske said an officer in the neighbourhood heard the shots and arrived to find one person staggering out of the house with a gunshot wound. The officer confronted the man with a shotgun but got no further than "Drop your..." before the man turned the weapon on himself and fired, the chief said.
The gunman also had a handgun, police said. Kerlikowske said the gunman mainly used a 20-gauge pistol-grip shotgun, " a weapon not designed for hunting purposes but for hunting people."
The gunman was wearing bandoliers of shells for the shotgun and carrying additional clips for the handgun. In his truck, police found an assault rife and multiple "banana clips" carrying 30 bullets each.
Police said they did not know if drugs or alcohol were a factor, though Kerlikowske said marijuana and alcohol were found in the house.
Neighbor Cesar Clemente, 25, said he called 911 when he heard the shots. He looked outside to see people fleeing and two people huddling in the bushes. He called for them. One, a man, made it to his front entryway, shot in the arm and the abdomen. The other collapsed in the bushes.
Clemente asked the man what happened.
He said only: "I've been peppered."
Medics quickly took him away, leaving behind a few shotgun pellets on the floor where he had been lying.
Officers were making progress identifying the shooter, Nollette said. Police had his black Dodge pickup towed from the scene.
Lowe said people came and left the house at all hours, often with facial piercings and elaborate makeup.
"This was a destination point," he said.
Nancie Thorne told the Seattle Times newspaper her 15-year-old daughter, Suzanne, was in the house when the man opened fire. She hadn't heard if the girl survived.
The girl's boyfriend, Jesse Mullens, called Thorne on Saturday morning to say they had gone to the house following an electronic dance party Friday night — a "zombie rave," Thorne said. They were about to leave — Mullens was waiting outside — when the gunman barged in.
Mullens told Thorne he heard a lot of gunshots. He thought Suzanne was stuck somewhere in the house with the shooter between her and the door.
"It's the worst phone call a mom can get," Thorne said, crying.
"She shouldn't have gone to the rave. I've never approved of those things...I just hope to God she's alive."
"And if she is, she's grounded for life."
Aaron Hoyle, 25, of Renton, Wash., said about five people in or near their 20s lived in the blue, two-storey bungalow with white trim and some were promoters of warehouse parties. Hoyle hadn't been to the home in about three months but heard about the shooting on the news and came to see if his friends were OK. By late morning, he still didn't know. He left.
The home, which property records showed is owned by a man named D. Gregg Doyle, is just a few blocks from Miller Community Center, where Little League baseball games were underway Saturday morning.
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source:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...epath=News/News
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Palm Trees > Pine Trees , Sand > Snow
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