Seattle’s ongoing battle with illegal arms and narcotics distribution hit another milestone this week, as a young man was apprehended in Belltown with crack cocaine and a firearm. According to the Seattle Police Department, the 23-year-old was caught on Monday during a sting operation specifically targeted at this dark trade.
It was Monday morning near 2nd Avenue and Blanchard Street when officers noted what appeared to be a drug deal taking place; a hand-to-hand exchange in the street, whereupon the suspect exchanged a small, white rock-like substance for cash with a woman, officers moved in for an arrest and in doing so, they discovered a loaded un-serialized handgun in the suspect’s possession along with cash, a digital scale, and contraband. This man wasn’t just hanging around on the sidewalk—he was armed and, as it turned out, was peddling crack cocaine.
The suspect did not have a chance to slip the 27-round extended magazine back into the shadows as the police initiated their approach. Upon his capture, it wasn’t just the paraphernalia suggesting distribution; field tests confirmed the narcotic was indeed cocaine, reinforcing the notion that this corner of Belltown was another node in the complex weave of the city’s drug circuitry…