From Pike-Pine to Garrand: How Two Carjackers Triggered Seattle U's Shelter Order

Thursday, February 16, 2023WAshelter in placeemergency notificationmedium confidence

Confirmed Threat

Two armed suspects carjacked a 21-year-old at gunpoint on the 1000 block of E. Pine Street in Capitol Hill around 4:00 PM PST on February 16, 2023, then crashed the stolen car at Broadway and E. Cherry and fled on foot onto the Seattle University campus. SU Public Safety pushed a SeattleUAlert shelter-in-place that lasted approximately 90 minutes before being lifted.

Alerts: 3
Response: —
Killed: —
Injured: —

Institution

Seattle University

Private R2 · WA

~7,100 studentsRaveSeattleUAlert

Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/XApproximately 4:15 PM PST on February 16, 2023

Verified verbatimKING 5 News, quoting the SU Public Safety Twitter/X post verbatim79 chars

We are sheltering in place until SPD gives an all clear. Card doors are locked.

KING 5 reported that by 4:29 PM PST every building entry on campus had been locked; this SU Public Safety post is the verbatim shelter-in-place notice quoted in their coverage

The terse 'Card doors are locked' refers to Seattle U's keycard-controlled building entries being put into lockdown mode

UPDATESMSApproximately 4:45 PM PST on February 16, 2023

Approximate reconstruction202 chars

SeattleUAlert Update: Seattle Police continue to search for armed carjacking suspects. Shelter in place remains in effect. Avoid Broadway, E. Pine, and E. Cherry. Public Safety is supporting SPD search.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Listing Broadway, E. Pine, and E. Cherry effectively traces the suspects' path: from the carjacking site on E. Pine through Cal Anderson Park down Broadway and onto campus near Cherry

Coordinating language between SU Public Safety and SPD is standard practice for incidents that begin off-campus and migrate onto SU grounds

ALL CLEARSMSApproximately 5:45 PM PST on February 16, 2023

Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from the SU President's update on the same-day shelter-in-place232 chars

SeattleUAlert: Shelter in place is lifted. Campus has been searched and is clear. SPD continues to search for the suspects in the broader area. Resume normal activity. Counseling and Psychological Services available at 206-296-6090.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The all-clear explicitly notes that suspects remained at large in the broader area, distinguishing campus security from the broader investigation

Including the CAPS phone number reflects SU's pattern of pairing post-incident messaging with mental-health resource pointers, particularly for incidents involving guns

Context

Background

The carjacking unfolded a few hundred feet from Seattle University's main campus. Per KOMO News, a 21-year-old victim was sitting in his car on the 1000 block of E. Pine when one suspect approached his passenger window for conversation while a second pulled open the driver's door and held a gun to his neck. Police later spotted the stolen vehicle near Broadway and E. Cherry; the suspects crashed and fled on foot onto Seattle U's campus. The university's Office of the President later acknowledged that the shelter-in-place 'lifted once SPD and Public Safety determined the suspects had left the immediate campus area,' though Seattle Police continued to search Capitol Hill for hours. The case is illustrative of how dense urban Jesuit campuses like Seattle U handle off-campus violence: alerts are calibrated to a tighter geographic threshold than rural land-grant universities, because the campus boundary is functionally porous on every side. The incident also occurred during a year of dramatic increase in armed carjackings in the Seattle metro, providing context for SU's quick activation.

Analysis

Key Findings

Seattle U sits inside a dense urban grid that makes campus boundaries porous to fleeing suspects, and alert thresholds are calibrated to that reality

The shelter-in-place lasted roughly 90 minutes — the time SPD needed to clear campus while the broader Capitol Hill manhunt continued

Suspects remained at large when SU lifted shelter-in-place; the all-clear referred only to campus, not the broader neighborhood

Including CAPS contact information in the all-clear reflects SU's standing template for incidents involving firearms, even when no shots were fired on campus

Outcome

Shelter-in-place lifted after Seattle Police searched campus and determined the suspects had likely left the area. No injuries on campus. Suspects remained at large at the time of the all-clear.

Provenance

Sources

Official
Today's Shelter-in-Place — Office of the President
seattleu.edu
News
Capitol Hill carjacking leads to lockdown at Seattle University (KOMO)
komonews.com
News
Seattle University locked down after Pike/Pine gunpoint carjacking
capitolhillseattle.com
News
Police search for armed carjacking suspects who put Seattle University into lockdown (FOX 13)
fox13seattle.com
News
Seattle armed carjackings this year have almost tripled 2023's total
seattletimes.com

Alert Sequence

Background

Key Findings

Sources

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