According to the King County Sheriff’s Department, a fiery car crash early Wednesday morning (Sept. 23rd) claimed the lives of three people in SeaTac when the car they were in ran off the road, slammed into a building and burst into flames.
The deadly accident occurred around 3:30am, along 8th Ave South by South 192nd Street near Sea-Tac Airport (see map below), according to Sgt. John Urquhart. The three victims were the only occupants in the car, and likely won’t be identified for another day or two.
According to Urquhart, speed was a factor in the fatal crash.
The car was apparently driving south at high speeds on 8th Ave South near South 192nd when it crossed the center line, hit a support cable next to a utility pole, careened through some brush, struck a tree and then a building, where it caught fire and burned, killing the occupants inside, Urquhart said.
Urquhart added that there was no evidence yet that the crash was the result of street racing, which has been a problem in the area recently.
Here’s a photo taken by Janet Grella Wednesday afternoon of flowers placed where the accident occurred:
According to the King County Sheriff’s Department, an 18 year-old man was shot in SeaTac last night around 11:30pm, and subsequently died at Burien’s Highline Medical Center.
The victim was riding in the back seat of a car that was southbound on Military Road South. Four friends were with him in the car. A second vehicle began following the victim’s car but turned off at South 140th; as it did, several rounds were fired and the male victim was hit.
The men drove straight to Highline Medical Center and the man collapsed in the entrance to the Emergency Room. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
The dead man is believed to be from California and was in the area visiting relatives.
All the people in the victim’s car were male and in their late teens or early 20s.
There is no description of the suspect vehicle, and no apparent motive for the shooting.
The Washington State Patrol is seeking help from the public in finding the driver of a white Toyota RAV4 who struck and killed Robert Windom, 54, of Burien early on Jan. 1st.
Windom was hit just before 3:30am on New Year’s Day on northbound I-5 near Boeing Field. The suspect driver fled, but a driver’s side rear-view mirror broke off, which has been matched to the RAV4, most likely made between 2005 and 2008.
It’s reported that Windom was a passenger in a car when he got out because he was feeling sick; he apparently wandered into the northbound lanes, where he was fatally struck by several vehicles.
So, if you know anyone driving a RAV4 or similar vehicle with damage to its left side, including the rear-view mirror and possibly headlight, fender, hood and windshield, please call WSP detectives at (425) 649-1530 immediately.
by Janet Grella
It is often agreed that most people over five years old and living in the United States on November 22, 1963 will remember exactly where they were when they found out that President John F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s gunshot in Dallas, Texas.
Today is the 45th Anniversary of this event that robbed us of our first Catholic president. The BTB thought we’d look back at this common memory through the eyes and memory of a local man who was there.
I met Tim Leahy at the Des Moines Legacy Foundation’s 9th Annual Bayside Brunch at Anthony’s Homeport recently. He was the Auctioneer, I was a volunteer. Through the course of conversation, I learned that he not only had lived in Dallas with his family, he was at the actual parade.
His Dad Richard took Tim (6th grade), sisters Cathy (8th grade) and little sister June (5th grade) out of class to see the first Roman Catholic President. Mom Patricia was home with his two younger brothers. From their vantage point they saw the presidential plane landing and Love Field. The Leahy family were very excited as the Presidential Lincoln Convertible drew past their spot real slow. Dad was taking home movies on an 8mm camera. Once they passed, Mr. Leahy got the kids in the car and drove them to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
Local resident Tim Leahy was in Dallas when JFK was shot.
In what Tim said was “no longer than 10-15 minutes, we walked into the restaurant; everyone was gathered around a radio, weeping. A waitress told them the President had been shot. Dad rushed over to St. Monica’s Catholic Church to pray for the president, his family and the country.”
Although they had planned to go back to school at St. Monica’s, they were taken home to start what would be a three-day television broadcast.
Like all viewers on Saturday morning, Tim and his family watched Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald in the garage of Dallas Police Headquarters surrounded by policeman and detectives. Let the conspiracy theories begin!
Walter Cronkite of CBS News broke into the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns” to tell the nation President Kennedy had been shot about 12:35pm CST and rushed to the hospital – here’s a video clip of that very moment:
At 1:38pm CST Mr. Cronkite was back on screen to tell American that our 35th President of the United States had died, about 38 minutes ago at 1:00pm:
BTB wants to know where were you when Kennedy died, and what were you doing?
Email us or post a Comment below…
| Aug ’08 |
| 7 |
| 2:00 pm |
Dan Packer, the East Pierce County Fire Chief who was tragically killed last Saturday while surveying a forest fire in Klamath National Forest in Northern California, once worked for the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department.
Packer, 49, worked for the local fire department from 1981 through 1994, when he left to work for Bonney Lake as Battalion Chief; he was soon promoted to Fire Chief for East Pierce County.
Packer’s quick rise through the ranks of B/N.P.F.D resulted in being promoted to Lieutenant, then being named “Firefighter of the Year” in 1992.
Many of his old co-workers and friends in the area are very saddened at the loss, and we here at the B-Town Blog wanted to make sure that everyone knew of his local ties, as well as the upcoming memorial service.
According to Doug Luedeman of the B.F.D., Packer was instrumental in the development of the “Children’s Fire Safety House” trailer which was ironically displayed at the Burien Strawberry Festival June 28th, where a young 8-year old boy named Edgar Omar Cisneros Velazquez visited it the day before he was tragically killed in the June 29th arson apartment fire.
Packer leaves behind a wife, four daughters and two grandchildren.
Memorial for Fire Chief Dan Packer
- When: 2 pm Thurs. Aug. 7
- Where: Christian Faith Center, 33645 20th Ave. S., Federal Way. The public is invited to the service.
- Memorials: In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made at any Washington Mutual location to the Fire Chief Dan Packer Memorial Fund. Checks can also be mailed to:
East Pierce Professional Firefighters
PO Box 7500
Bonney Lake, WA 98391
DES MOINES – Tragedy struck Friday night when an elderly woman drowned after the car she was a passenger in plunged into Puget Sound at the Des Moines Marina.
Police and fire officials said an elderly couple was driving in the parking lot of the marina when the male driver accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes, causing the SUV to drive off of the road, crash through the fence and plunge into the cold water.
Rescuers pulled out the 86-year-old man rather quickly through his open window, but his 76-year-old wife wasn’t rescued in time.
By the time divers got the woman out of the water, she had been under for 28 minutes and was unconscious. Medics performed CPR on her, but she could not be resuscitated.
The man’s condition is not known.
The couple’s names were not released.
SOURCE:
WHITE CENTER – A White Center man was charged Friday with first-degree manslaughter for the death of his girlfriend, who had muscular dystrophy and relied on him as a live-in caregiver.
Peter E. Gullberg, 41, faces at least 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 years’ imprisonment if convicted. Prosecutors likely would seek an exceptional prison term because the wheelchair-bound victim was especially vulnerable, said Dan Donohoe, King County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman.
Gullberg called 911 Tuesday and reported that his girlfriend, Stephanie Campeau, wasn’t breathing at their 14th Avenue Southwest home. He told sheriff’s deputies that he had struck her on both sides of the head with his hands during an argument, court documents say.
He was arrested and taken to jail, with bail set at $1 million. Gullberg is scheduled for arraignment May 8.
The couple had known each other for 12 years and lived together for the past six. They’ve dated off and on and Gullberg was her paid caregiver, court documents say.
In an interview with detectives, Gullberg said the victim was egging him on by ramming her wheelchair into furniture and running over his toe. She kept shouting: “What are you going to do, hit me? Hit me, just hit me,” court documents say.
“I finally snapped this morning. I did it, I did it,” the defendant allegedly told investigators.
He told detectives he’d lost patience with her during the past few months. After he struck her, he noticed a blood blister forming on her eye but she asked him not to call 911 and went to sleep. When Gullberg realized she wasn’t breathing and turning purple, he called police, court documents say.
Campeau, 34, was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where she died Wednesday from brain injuries, court documents say.
Before Gullberg called 911, he telephoned his mother and a domestic violence crisis line, court documents say.
Gullberg has no prior convictions but had been arrested before on suspicion of assaulting Campeau, court documents say.
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TUKWILA – One man was shot to death and another critically injured at a party to help promote a book about rapper Dr. Dre early Sunday in the parking lot outside a crowded Tukwila golf course restaurant.
Police arrived at the scene shortly after 2 a.m., responding to a 911 call about shots fired outside the Foster Golf Links restaurant, said Tukwila police spokesman Mike Murphy.
There they found a chaotic scene of 200 to 300 people who had been leaving a party at Gordon’s on the Green at the Foster golf course. The party followed a book-signing by Bruce Williams and Donnell Alexander, authors of a book about Dr. Dre entitled “Rollin’ With Dre: The Unauthorized Account.”
Dr. Dre himself was not at the book signing or the party, but several other high-profile guests may have been, including former Seattle SuperSonics Gary Payton, Sam Perkins and Jerome Kersey – who were invited to attend, but it’s not known yet if they were actually there.
The party had been peaceful and orderly throughout the evening, said Gordon Harris, owner of the restaurant. But as the patrons were leaving the building, an altercation broke out in the parking lot and shots were fired.
Many of the people inside and outside the building panicked when they heard the gunfire. Someone kicked out the glass in a doorway, while others got on the ground or ran to the aid of the victims.
Additional police reinforcements were called in to help control the huge crowd at the scene and to help medics get through to the victims amid the mayhem.
Officers determined that five to eight shots were fired during the altercation and that two men were shot. Both victims were taken by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
One of the victims, a 24-year-old from Renton, died from his injuries. The other, a 25-year-old from Skyway, remains in critical condition, Murphy said.
“We’re fortunate that no one else was hit,” he said, considering the density of the crowd and the number of shots fired.
As medics were transporting the victims to Harborview, about 100 people who had been at the party followed the ambulances in their cars and created a scene at the hospital. Some reportedly tried to climb into the ambulances as the victims were being taken out on stretchers, witnesses said.
Seattle police called in reinforcements to enforce crowd control at the hospital.
Police are still trying to piece together information about the incident and what led to the altercation and gunshots. All witnesses said the party had been a peaceful affair until it broke up and people were leaving the restaurant.
No suspects have been arrested yet.
Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to contact Tukwila police at (206) 433-1808.
Harris said some of his employees were shaken up by the incident. And he worries about the impact of the shooting on efforts to reclaim Tukwila’s image.
“It’s another strike against the city of Tukwila,” he said. “We’ve been working hard to change that image, and then this happens.”
SOURCE:
BURIEN – A 15-year old Burien girl has been arrested by King County Sheriff’s investigators in connection with the stabbing death of a 49-year-old Kent man last Friday (April 4).
Deputies were called to the man’s home on Tuesday to check on him, said sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart. Deputies found the man dead in his garage, with apparent stab wounds.
Investigators tested fingerprints on a knife found near the man’s body and the print came back to the girl, Urquhart said.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the slaying, but is still trying to identify the man.
The girl, who is being held at the King County Youth Service Center, has had “numerous contacts” with police in the past, including an arrest for prostitution, Urquhart said.
She was arrested on Thursday.
SOURCE:
SEATTLE – A man who shot and killed a Farwest cab driver in SeaTac before setting fire to the taxi has been convicted of aggravated murder and arson.
The King County prosecutor’s office says 19-year-old Earnest Lenell Collins of Seattle will automatically receive a life term with parole when he is sentenced May 9 in King County Superior Court. The jury returned with the verdict Friday.
Prosecutors say robbery was the apparent motive for the July 17 killing of the Farwest Taxi driver, Jagit Singh. He was shot twice in the head and his cab was set afire.
Collins fled and was arrested in Chicago.
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