Seattle Police kill man dressed as Nazi soldier in U-District

Seattle police shot and killed an armed man dressed in a World War II-era Nazi uniform early this morning in the University District.

Police responded at about 2 a.m. to neighbors' complaints that several men were shooting rifle and shotgun rounds into a dark alley in the 5200 block between 16th and 17th avenues Northeast, said police spokesman Jeff Kappel.

Police entered the alley, and neighbors showed them the direction two suspects had gone, toward a large white house that is divided into several apartments. Police knocked on the man's door — a basement unit with an entry that is partly underground — and the man who answered held a long rifle with a large bayonet attached, Kappel said.

Uniformed officers at the door warned the man several times to drop his weapon. He didn't, Kappel said, and he pointed it at one of the officers. Two officers shot him several times. He was taken to the hospital, where he died this morning.

Police searching the house after the incident found a large collection of German military and Nazi regalia and a lot of alcohol, Kappel said.

The shooting occurred in a quiet neighborhood of large homes near the University of Washington. The street is a mix of family homes and homes divided into apartments for students. Rachel Boughton, who lives a few doors down from the home where the shooting occurred, said that beyond noise complaints, the neighborhood is usually peaceful.

She did not hear the shooting, but she said that there were fireworks going off in the neighborhood and it would be hard to distinguish, anyway.

Mark Kedziora, who lives in the apartment next door to the man, said he and his friend saw his neighbor and two other young men in the alley early this morning. They were dressed strangely — one in a Nazi uniform, another in an olive-colored military uniform and a military helmet. They were firing guns south in the alley.

Kedziora said he didn't talk much to his neighbor, who was reserved and kept to himself, but that he had noticed the man wore military-style leather boots, a black mustache and combed-over black hair. He and his friends had commented before that the man, who looked like he was in his early 20s, resembled Adolf Hitler, he said.

"I didn't think he actually had the whole get-up," he said, referring to the Nazi uniform.

This morning, Kedziora and his friend watched the three men firing their guns. They thought at first that they were fake guns, but they closed their door when they realized the guns were real. About 40 minutes later, they pointed police to the doorway.

They heard confusion and heard the police warning the man to drop his weapon. A few minutes later, they watched out the window as the injured man was taken away and SWAT teams searched the neighborhood. At one point, police evacuated the building, waking tenants.

Other neighbors said police went door-to-door, looking for the men. A few scraps of yellow police tape remained in the alley Thursday afternoon.

No one answered the door today at the apartment where the shooting occurred, though the lights were on. A piece of cardboard partially covered a pool of blood on the landing outside the door.

The police who fired at the man are on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

Earlier today, investigators were seeking one man involved with the incident, but by the afternoon, all witnesses and suspects had been accounted for.

Kappel did not know how many people were in custody.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published Jan. 1, 2009, was corrected Jan. 1, 2009. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the armed man was dressed as a neo-Nazi. He was dressed in a World War II-era Nazi uniform.