SEATTLE — Police say a shooting that wounded three men walking on a downtown Seattle street was not random.
Spokeswoman Renee Witt said the victims know the gunman in some way, although the motive is unknown.
Spokesman Mark Jamieson said the gunman stepped out of an alley about 2:30 Friday morning on James Street near Second Avenue.
The victims, all in their 20s and 30s, were taken to Harborview Medical Center. Jamieson says two are in critical condition with multiple wounds.
Homicide and gang detectives are looking for the gunman and interviewing people who may have knowledge about the crime.
Transient pleads guilty to two Seattle rapes
A transient who raped two women in the summer of 2007 on the Seattle waterfront pleaded guilty.
Angel Galvan-Hernandez, 26, faces up to 20 years when he is sentenced in King County Superior Court for Wednesday’s plea.
He was caught by a witness who intervened in one attack and linked to a rape five days earlier by DNA evidence. In both rapes The Seattle Times reports women were beaten over the head with rocks, bitten and had hair yanked out.
King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg said Galvan-Hernandez was on a spree looking for more vulnerable women.
Olympia: Man gets six years in prison for boating deaths
A boater responsible for the deaths of three people was sentenced in Olympia to six years in prison.
The 43-year-old Olympia man, Vincent Farler, pleaded that he would be found guilty of homicide by watercraft and was sentenced Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court.
Three people — 32-year-old Bryan L. Pierce, 9-year-old Cameron McCartney and his 5-year-old brother Sean — drowned in June in the Nisqually River when Farler ran a boat into a logjam.
The Olympian reports that Farler had been drinking at a tavern before the accident and had a blood alcohol level of .19, more than twice the legal limit for operating a boat.
Bremerton: Woman scammed by secret shopper job
Police say a woman who thought she had a job as a “secret shopper” was scammed.
The Kitsap Sun reported the 41-year-old woman had been looking online for work when a letter came to her asking her to work as a secret shopper. It had a check for nearly $4,000 for her expenses and profit.
She didn’t spend all the money, so she called a man who told her to wire the rest to Canada. After she did, her bank told her the check was bad.
Mount Vernon: Police return suspect to Skagit County
A man accused of killing another man last summer in a drive-by shooting in Burlington has been returned from Mexico for trial.
Luis Alberto Ugalde, 28, is accused of shooting Walter Chacon-Villanueva in another car.
The Skagit Valley Herald reported the dispute began with a woman complaining about dirty looks in a restaurant.
Ugalde surrendered at the U.S. Customs office in Laredo, Texas, and was returned to Skagit County this week by Burlington police.
Walla Walla: Man sentenced for killing brother
A Walla Walla man who stabbed his brother to death during a fight was sentenced to two years in prison.
Johnny Leal, 28, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter for the death last February of Pedro J. Ramirez at the home they shared.
The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reported at his sentencing Wednesday that Leal said he prays his family will forgive him.
Ardenvoir: Post office will remain in tiny town
The tiny Chelan County town of Ardenvoir will get to keep its post office after all.
Ernie Swanson, spokesman for regional post office operations in Seattle, says the U.S. Postal Service will let the Cooper General Store and Cafe keep the post office, and Ardenvoir can keep its 98811 ZIP code after the store’s owner completed several requested improvements.
The combined general store, cafe and post office is the only business in the town of about 200 people. The post office has been part of the store since the town was established in 1932.
Swanson says the move to close the post office Jan. 16 was made in part because the owner had made some changes to the store that made it difficult to get into the post office.
If it closed, local residents would have to begin picking up their mail in Entiat, 12 miles away, or put up rural route mailboxes.
The improvements and repairs included separating the store and post office from the cafe where alcohol is served, and repairing a door and putting a heater into the post office.
Spokane: Baby moose falls through family’s window
A Spokane family got a surprise arrival when a moose calf fell through a basement window and into a bedroom.
The Spokesman Review reported that the baby moose was apparently foraging in the shallower snow close to the house when it fell into a deep window well on Thursday. As it tried to get out and join its mother and sibling, the moose kicked in the window and ended up trapped in the bedroom.
Washington state wildlife biologist Woody Myers got the call, thinking at first the police officer who phoned him was joking. Myers managed to shoot a tranquilizer dart into the moose’s rump. Then he and four other men used a tarp to haul the 375-pound baby up a narrow stairway.
Wildlife officers were later able to track down the calf’s mother and sibling and trucked the reunited family out near Mount Spokane for release. The area has gotten more than 6 feet of snow in the past three weeks.
Woman sentenced to 62 1/2 years in girl’s death
A 34-year-old Spokane woman has been sentenced to 62 1/2 years in prison for her role in the abuse death of her 4-year-old stepdaughter.
Adriana Lytle was sentenced Friday in the death of Summer Phelps. A day earlier, Lytle’s husband and the girl’s father, 30-year-old Jonathan Lytle, was sentenced to 75 years.
Adriana Lytle pleaded guilty last year to homicide by abuse with aggravated circumstances in Summer’s death.
Prosecutors contended that over six months in 2006 and 2007, Summer Phelps was beaten, bitten, burned and denied food for long periods. She died March 10, 2007, submerged in the family bathtub.
Oregon: Man ordered to pay restitution for standoff
A Riddle man who held police at bay during two standoffs within a month last year has been ordered to pay nearly $66,000 in restitution to law enforcement agencies.
Jeffery Lloyd Schwab was also sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to burglary, unlawful use of a weapon and harassment charges related to the standoffs.
Schwab, 44, was upset about his divorce when he held police at bay at his ex-wife’s home and then at a home she was visiting.
In the second incident, Schwab entered the home with a gun. His ex-wife and the occupants were able to escape, but Schwab remained holed up for hours while police tried to coax him out.
His attorney said Schwab has struggled with methamphetamine addiction.
Oregonians say tax our sins, but forgive us our purchases
A new poll shows two out of three Oregonians are willing to pay higher state “sin taxes” on tobacco, beer and wine but only two out of five think a sales tax is a good idea, even if income or property taxes are reduced.
The poll results were presented Thursday to a task force wrapping up a yearlong review of the Oregon tax system before making recommendations to the Legislature.
Two out of three people surveyed said reducing health care costs should be among the state’s top priorities.
The statewide telephone poll of 600 registered voters was conducted Nov. 6-10 by Davis, Hibbitts &Midghall. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
Idaho: Duncan transferred to federal death row in Indiana
Joseph Edward Duncan III, convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping, torture and slaying of a northern Idaho boy, has been transferred to a federal death row prison in Indiana.
Duncan, 45, was given three death penalty sentences last year for the 2005 kidnapping, sexual abuse and torture of Dylan Groene, 9, and his 8-year-old sister Shasta, along with Dylan’s murder.
He snatched the children from the Coeur d’Alene home after killing their brother, mother and her fiance.
Duncan had been incarcerated in the Ada County Jail, but is now at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Defense lawyers are appealing his death sentences in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Riverside, Calif., say they are working to bring Duncan there to be tried for the abduction and slaying of a 10-year-old boy in 1997.
Associated Press
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