Comments on A Description of the Killer
Dan, how tall are you? And have you been going a little unshaven for the Holiday weekend?
Just posted about Kiro 7 releasing some additional details regarding the victim.
That sounds like crazy homeless Mark to me. You know the guy. He has Dennis Hopper eyes and walks like a zombie. He is so cracked out and angry and is always shouting threats to women on 15th. Has anyone seen him around lately?
That sounds like a random attack to me. Shit, that's scary.
About a block or so east on Howell is one of those Trembling Acres homes...there's always nuts sitting outside yelling at specters or staring into space.
Some friends and I walked by the scene today and passed several sketchy types who had "recently released and already up to no good" written all over their faces, going into that residence.
JUST SAYIN'...
What a coincidence. My new years resolution was to kick every homeless drunk bit of trash I pass by on the way to work in the morning.
A community that treats it's homeless people like members of the community is like a man who talks to his pubic lice.
Also noted in that P-I report is that the police responded in about ONE MINUTE.
We give the cops shit for spending time writing tickets for jaywalking, so let's give credit to the cops where it's due. They were on it when they needed to be.
Thumbs up, cops!
@2,
I totally know who you are talking about, and yes that guy is pretty creepy and really intense. I haven't seen him around Capitol Hill lately though. In his defense though, he was always polite to me when I used to see him, and I would always give him my leftovers if I went out to eat, but he seems like he could switch to Jack from the Shining at the drop of a hat.
jesus. A community that treats homeless people like scum is one that both deserves and will get random violence.
Agreed, Jubilation--and a one minute response time on NYE, no less.
I'm with jubilation and Dan... lets give some serious credit to SDP for their super fast response time! Damn, they were ON IT!
Folks (witnesses, specifically) should search Flickr for "seattle" and "homeless" to see if this dude shows up on any photos. If there's one thing amateur photogs love to take pictures of, it's a weathered transient.
I've seen two photos of individuals that could match that description, but I'm not familiar with the personalities, names, or habits.
@3, I thought that guy had torrets? (seriously) I remember him when I lived on 15th Ave East a couple of years ago: screaming "cock sucker" and stuff like that while walking by the QFC and that great little bakery that needs to be open on Sundays...... (hint: you know the bakery I am talking about)
I'm glad I moved off of there though: I moved a month after the masacure a couple of years ago. Time to abandon ship I thought.
But I agree that if this is a homeless guy (sounds like it could be) then expect more of this as society continues to shit on the less fortunate. Treat people like animals and they will eventually start acting like it.
Just because he killed someone, doesn't make the guy homeless. Most murder victims knew their attackers. They should look closer to home...
Before the pro homeless and anti homeless and whatever partisans start exploiting this tragedy as proof that their agenda was right all along, may I just point out that long before any of you came along, I was here first, and it was my agenda which has been vindicated by tragedies and disasters going back as far as anyone can remember.
This woman's horrible murder doesn't prove you right, it proves me right.
Gee, all this freaking out... I thought (after reading Slog for several months) that violence was all part of living in higher density situations.
Yeah, it is a crime but you want paradise you have to take the serpent along with it. It's a package deal. At least that has been the opinion of many Sloggers everytime someone gets killed on Cap Hill.
Capitol Hill was crawling with cop cars last night. I'm not surprised by that response time.
Here's another picture of her at a party for the opposition of proposition 1:
What is it about 15th that makes it so agreeable to vagrants with personality disorders? Are they all waiting for their RXs from Group Health to be filled? Are they sleeping in Volunteer Park? Are there just a boatload of 'halfway' houses (halfway between what and what I don't know)? Or is it the inordinate number of dipshits who seem to indulge and even befriend them? I'm talking to you, aging hippie lady who makes nicey nice with the shouter outside QFC.
okay, time for a little explanation.
Community House Mental Health operates several group homes within a four or five block radius of 15th and Howell. it's quite possible the suspect was a resident. if you don't take your medication or obey the group home rules, they throw you out after three warnings. or maybe he wasn't receiving any mental health services. all i know is that i'm scared about walking down to broadway right now to return my DVDs.
as for crazy homeless Mark, i have my doubts. he's been on the hill for more than 20 years and never heard of him harming anyone. or do i have him mixed up with someone else?
Elenchos, how delicious!
C'mon, people: Jubilation connects a witness description (that fits Zach Gallifianakis, or that Minus the Bear fella) to the Seattle Mental Health facility whose porchsitters make Jube's walks to Trader Joe's feel so courageous. Someone else links flickr mugshots tagged "Seattle-Homeless." Then Cato predicts the homeless may soon be murdering the homed in greater numbers.
A young woman's shitty, shitty death brings out some fierce and sweaty vigilante bullshit for some of you peoples. It's a spectacle, but please quit with your monster stories. You're scaring me.
I have nothing of particular value to say about this particular crime. But since almost no one else seems to either and it didn't stop plenty of others from commenting ... here I am.
Yeah, quit with the monster stories and put away your pitchforks you fucking peasants. Obviously the guy who did this wasn't a monster, so just move along, move along, return your DVDs, hit the sales, maybe go to Smith and people-watch (I said people-watch, NOT monster-watch). I mean, what kind of pussies get all lathered up about random slaughter in their own neighborhood? Psycho-killer-hating fascist pussies, that's who.
@21 -- Lover, I don't shop at Trader Joe's. They never have the same thing twice there, and if I need goose fat, I need fucking GOOSE FAT. OK? OK...
I'm not seeing monsters and I'm not accusing the homeless or the mentally challenged of being instant lunatics, capable of murder.
I do, however, believe that if there are certain higher probabilities in solving a murder case -- let's see, do we take a look at the home for the mentally ill or do we shakedown that yarn store? -- I'm going to goo with the odds. At least to clear their good names.
Stop being so black and white and freaky, tomasyalba! Calm down.
"Goo with the odds." God knows I've done that before...
Dan, thanks for posting additional details. Everything about this story is scary and sad and awful.
I think most of us know that, but for those who are using this woman's death to engage in adolescent quasi-philosophizing, please try and remember that someone's daughter, friend, and colleague was brutally stabbed to death for no apparent reason. It's unfair to twist the circumstances of her murder to suit the needs of ill-informed online posturing.
@26 -- Sorry, Lulu, but you don't get to have your Utopia here. There was a murder -- scary, sad and awful, as you so correctly say -- and people are going to have comments to make about it for that very reason.
You don't get to have everyone weighing in with Kirkegaard-level insights. Some people are not capable of that. That doesn't mean they don't have the right to comment on a public blog. This isn't the funeral home, Lulu -- it's a place for COMMENTS. Yeah it would be nice if everyone was reverent and unironic...but this is Slog and you're gonna get snark. All the time. For nearly every topic. Don't like it? Maybe the Daughters of the American Revolution blog is hopping right now.
Instead of slinging a bunch of hash at people you consider your intellectual inferiors (by using more hyphenates than the average Gerrard Manley Hopkins poem, I might add), why don't you tell us what the crime means to you -- or just hush.
@ #27: I wasn't questioning anyone's right to post, or to their opinions. Like you disagree w/ mine, I disagree w/ some of the others'.
And while it's hardly the point, it's "Kierkegaard".
About a month ago I was walking our dog down 16th and stopped at the corner of Howell. The streetlight blinked off at that moment. Of course the dog thinks she will do her business on the boulvard of 16th/Howell. I carry a 6 D-cell Maglite in my jacket sleeve. After the dog doo's,I'm picking it up and see a tall dark dressed figure standing behind me. Out of the corner of my eye I see him inching closer. I click the Maglight on and swing around and go "Yeah?" He mumbles "sorry" and slowly walks back across 16th and continued up Howell. He had scraggly black beard, about 6'3" tall, and dark clothes on. Probably was nothing, but my radar kicked on when he approached. Uh, no it was not a monster, but if it was someone lookin' to do something stupid, the Maglight would be the answer. There's a reason cops carry em'.
Yer tew clevver fer me, Lulu! I'm goin' back to the portsch and whittle on my stee-yick!
Two things come to mind.
1. A little over a year ago (Sept. 2006) there was a random stabbing on 11th Avenue between E Howell Street and E Denny Way. The victim was on his way home, and the attacker crossed the street to stab him practically on his doorstep. He lived and the attacker was eventually caught.
2. The Mayor has re-deployed a bunch of police into the 3rd and Pine Street area downtown, following a summer of violent and deadly attacks. Some reports indicate that some of the people causing the problems in that area have moved up to the Belltown area. But it's within reason that some of those people may have moved up to the Hill.
Yes, kudos for SPD for their swift arrival. Their response to violent and life-threatening situations is really pretty good.
@29. If you're radar kicked on, there was probably a reason for it. I think people who live in high density neighborhoods for any length of time often develop a more refined "radar" than they give themselves credit for.
Let's pray they catch the guy who did this, and fast.
I am a single female and live in one of the buildings across the street and am shocked and frankly, scared shitless. Hearing about it initially, I was sure it was a motivated/intentional crime of vengeance, because it was just so random and violent, on new year's eve, and out in the open, etc. (it's a big and visible sidewalk, not particularly dark, narrow or secluded--at least the portion of Howell closer to 15th--where along the block did it happen?) -- just didn't sound like your every day mugging. I'm upset and scared by the fact that it seems like it may indeed have been totally random, and potentially committed by a stranger. That it could very easily have been me. I've actually never been at all scared around here, and I don't feel like I see many completely sketchy people down at this end of the block, although I do see such types near the bus stop by Safeway and Group Health. I also didn't realize that there were several mental health group homes in this area. I hardly ever go east of 15th though to some of the areas that some of you have been describing...mostly I walk north on 15th or west on Howell. Perhaps I should have been less laissez faire about my safety, paid more attention. I'm speechless, and feel very vulnerable. It sucks not to feel safe. But, it could be worse. I'm just now feeling a bit petty and sheepish when I think about how it must feel to live in Baghdad or Gaza or Darfur. In any case, I won't be walking anywhere alone any time soon if I can help it. :(
I've been thinking some more...it's not that I didn't realize there are all sorts of random people walking the streets around here, including homeless people, mental cases, drugged out kids/not so much kids, etc...it's more that I didn't think I needed to be scared of them (again, IF the perpetrator fits one of these descriptions). That's really what catches me off guard. I work closely with many people that fit this description on a daily basis, and they're mostly just that--people. People that mind their own business, do their own thing, even if they happen to be dirty, crazy, high, etc. Or if they don't mind their own business, they're very rarely physically threatening, just verbally so. Hmmm.
The police station is on 12th and Pine, so the response time makes sense. (That's about 3 blocks from the murder scene.) Plus, the police generally prioritize violent crime. It's property crime issues that take much longer. Those priorities make sense to me.
I lived on 13th and Howell for years and never had any trouble, walked around at night all the time. This is hugely scary.
Hi A Neighbor.
I have felt the same way as you before. I used to live in one of the top 5 murder capitals of the country, and had to walk home from work through some bad parts of town. I used to feel like it was murders per square foot, and think of how many steps I could safely take before my time came.
When a series of scary things happened to me and my roommate (not anything that turned really bad thankfully) I became semi-agoraphobic and didn't leave my house much that year. I was young and liked going out, but I was scared so much I stayed in.
I live close to where this happened, and it's scary. I got scared too when the guy on 10th was stabbed because I walk that way a lot.
But there are so many things that can happen to us that are beyond our control. You should be careful, and develop strong radar for badness and a strong sense of what's going on around you, especially in light of this just happening yesterday. And pay more attention to your hair-trigger sense of danger than to your feeling to be polite. But just like anything else, you have to be cautious and aware and proactive but not paralyzed with fear. The chances we'll be killed by a car or a home accident are greater than just about anything else. With all the things that can go wrong though, we still need to live our lives. And we shouldn't give up our streets to the bad guys.
You're right, we have it better than those other places. It doesn't make it less scary though. And I'm really thankful I live in a place where a bunch of people would call the police for help, and that the police would get here in only 1 minute. There are places where neither of those happen.
All that said, I'm not likely to go on random wandering walks until there's more concrete information about how this happened.
I hope he's caught soon.
Just back from Smith. I am grateful for the late coverage, and was scared of the vigilante tone that showed up on the thread for a while. Really appreciate Trout's suggestions on dealing with the fear while the murderer's still at large.
Council staffers say it makes a difference in every City department when electeds get live phone calls from agitated constituents. It might be helpful if each of us who's angry or scared or both calls every City Council member, the Mayor and Kerlikowske tomorrow, and tell them to verify SPD's got all their sharpest cops on this one, and demand some kind of regular communication be set up to inform us about progress searching for the killer.
i was a friend and co-worker of shannon's. there are a lot of people who are really shocked by this today. she was an amazing human and could not have hurt a fly. her family is all flying in tomorrow morning, please send them all your good thoughts.
and being another cap hill dweller, i hope they catch this guy fast!
jen
@36. Great idea! I'm on the phone to the Mayor's office now.
FUCK all that bullshit about transients and mental cases! It's pretty clear from the circumstances surrounding shannon harp's murder that the most likely scenario is that the killer knew her-or at least who she was.I am not saying this is a fact but its highly probable that she was been stalked by her killer before he attacked and killed her.
I am a female a little older than Shannon Harps and I catch the bus on Broadway in the morning by Cal Anderson Park. A couple of months ago a homeless mentally ill man crossed the street to where I was standing and starting hassling me (half yelling incoherently). I felt threatened but decided my best course of action was to look away, not make eye contact and ignore him...and he did wander off. If he would have attacked me I might have ended up like Shannon because I was alone with no recourse.
If anything like this happens again I *might* choose to act differently in light of this recent attack (leave the area/yell) but I did what my gut told me to do in that moment as I didn't want to antagonize him. I realized at the time I was lucky that nothing violent happened. We don't know yet who killed Shannon Harps and I am not going to assume it was a homeless man, but I will say that feeling threatened while just going about your business on Cap Hill is not an infrequent occurrence. I think I will change my bus stop to one where there are more people around.
I want to wish Shannon's family my condolences. This murder is so sad and it really hits close to home.
For all those feeling overwhelmed by fear I recommend reading Gavin de Becker's excellent book The Gift of Fear. He has extensive experience with risk prediction and teaches you how to use true instinctual fear (the "radar" a few people have mentioned here) to keep you safe while not letting anxiety (what most here are describing as fear) take over your life.
I live within two blocks of the murder site and within 50 feet of one of the crazy houses. Perhaps its more politically correct not to jump to the assumption that it was one of these residents who committed this crime, but under the circumstances I say fuck political correctness. I'm keeping my eye on every motherfucker trolling around my block, but even more so with the crazies. If you've already been deemed unstable/mentally ill it only stands to reason that you may be more capable of doing something fucked up. Thats just the way it is.
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