Alondra Roca called 911 when she heard gunfire in her South Seattle neighborhood, but she says police never responded.
Now more residents are complaining about the lack of police response after a dozen shots were fired at their Columbia City apartment building. Seattle Police said officers responded within minutes, but following protocol, did not make direct contact with everyone who called 911.
Neighbors saw two men fired shots from a car on the 5000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way around 3 a.m. Saturday.
"First I saw the flashes, right? And then took off my headphones and they started shooting," said Darwin Escolana. "Look at the bullets. It's everywhere."
Gunfire hit a neighbor's car parked in their lot, a 2nd-floor apartment unit, and Roca's 3rd-floor apartment that she just moved into earlier that week.
"It was ten shots, and then I just dropped down to the floor," Roca said. "I waited for them and they never arrived. I waited for them 'til 4 a.m., just like, super scared."
Escolana and Roca say they never saw police arrive. Neighbors said they saw police respond later in the day.
Seattle Police said their 911 call center received multiple calls about the shooting and responded within minutes.
The operator categorized Roca's call as "contact if needed." In other words, if the police needed to talk to her, they could knock on her door. She says they didn't. She admits she told the operator she was too scared to go outside her apartment to meet officers when they arrive.
Neither Roca nor SPD realized at least one of the rounds came into her apartment and lodged itself into her wall until the sun came up later that day.
"My brother came and he was freaked out, too. 'Oh my God.' He said 'How did you not know about this?' The lights were off, I had no idea. I was so alarmed. It was so loud, I didn't know which way it was coming from."
With important evidence such as a round from the suspect's gun in her apartment, Roca reached out to SPD again on Monday, by calling their emergency number.
Police promised to return to collect the evidence and, this time, make contact with her as requested.
