20060728
At Least Two Shot At Jewish Center In Seattle
KOMO News, SEATTLE - At least two people were wounded by gunshots Friday afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and one person was arrested, police said.
A SWAT team was searching the building, looking for any other victims, anyone hiding or any other possible shooters, police spokesman Rich Pruitt said.
The extent of the victims' injuries was not immediately known, but reportedly at least two were shot in the stomach, and they were being taken to Harborview Medical Center. A witness told KOMO 4 News that she heard at least four gunshots and saw at least four victims.
Police blocked off several city blocks to investigate.
Patti Simon was at work at the federation's newspaper on the first floor when she heard screaming, shots and what sounded like furniture crashing on the floor above.
"We heard this horrible screaming on the floor above us and shots," said Simon, 52, who sells advertising at the paper. "We didn't know what was happening."
Simon called up to her co-workers on the second floor, but got no answer, so she called the police and fled the building.
"People got shot, some of our co-workers," Simon said, her voice shaking. "I just got back from Israel and made it out of there a half hour before the rockets started."
Simon said the federation has security in the building.
"Somebody must have lied there way in," Simon said.
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"Though thousands of miles away, the bloody Israel-Lebanon conflict was emotional and immediate over the weekend as Seattle-area groups supporting both sides held local rallies.
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday, numerous Jewish organizations banded together for an event that coincided with similar pro-Israel demonstrations the same day in nine cities, including Los Angeles and London.
Held at Mercer Island's Luther Burbank Park, the local pro-Israel rally came after a demonstration Saturday night at Green Lake sponsored by Seattle's Arab American Community Coalition. The central message of the Green Lake event was a call for an end to the violence.
At Saturday night's Arab community rally, the main message was "cease fire, stop the violence, stop killing innocent civilians," said event organizer Rita Zawaideh, a Seattle travel agent who has clients stranded in southern Lebanon."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003147877&zsection_id=2002111777&slug=rally24m&date=20060724