Seattle bakery closes due to high crime, fatal shooting

Seattle police are investigating after a man was shot and killed downtown Sunday afternoon. According to the department, "At 12:28 p.m., police responded to 3rd Avenue and Pine Street for reports of a shooting.

Officers arrived and found a man with gunshot wounds in the 300 block of Pine Street. Officers and Seattle Fire Department medics attempted lifesaving measures, but the man was declared deceased at the scene."

Police have not released any information on a possible suspect or motive.

According to KOMO News, this is the sixth fatal shooting SPD has responded to so far this year. Last week, a man was shot in the face at the same intersection. There have been no arrests in connection to last week's shooting.

The stretch of 3rd Avenue has been known for years for o pen air drug use, sales of stolen merchandise as well needles and trash scattered all of the street and sidewalks.

Hours after Sunday's deadly shooting Piroshky Piroshky owner Olga Sagan told KOMO they are closing their location at 3rd Ave and Pike St.

Sagan said she made the decision because the area is no longer safe for her employees and that she will find positions for the employees at one of the Russian bakery's other locations.

"We have been patiently communicating with a city for the last 6 months, but things only getting worse. We feel that city has abandoned downtown and not treating this crisis (both humanitarian and criminal) as an emergency. All we hear is them talking and no action.”

Piroshky Piroshky only reopened its downtown location six months ago after it was closed for over a year because of the pandemic. Since reopening, Sagan told the outlet that people have threatened customers outside the store and some people have exposed themselves to employees.

Hundreds of businesses have fled Seattle citing the spiking crime and the inability or unwillingness of the city to do anything about it. Seattle police have seen so many officers leave the force that the department is operating well below the minimal staffing levels necessary to ensure public safety.

Since Mayor Bruce Harrell was inaugurated in January, a homeless encampment has grown across the street from Seattle City Hall. The new Harrell administration has been unable to clear the encampment.

The encampment was scheduled for removal Friday, but was delayed until Sunday. As the cleanup began, Antifa activists and homeless advocates showed up. The cleanup was abruptly halted and has yet to resume, even though Seattle was in the middle of a cold snap. Since the failed cleanup attempt there have been fires at the encampment from which local law enforcement had to save homeless residents from a horrific death.

Harrell had difficulty explaining the delay in clearing the encampment during a press conference Friday.

Yet, across the street from the encampment sits a mural proclaiming "Black Lives Matter- Enough is enough" on the sidewalk, pristinely maintained which cost Seattle taxpayers over $19,000.

According to a public disclosure request, the mural was installed in September as an attempt to bring businesses and tourism back to downtown Seattle.