Bellingham woman shot by masked man as she opens door
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BELLINGHAM, Wash. - A Bellingham woman was shot in the chest by a masked man Thursday morning as she opened her apartment door, police say.
The woman reportedly answered a knock at her door and was shot point blank by an unknown person who then fled the scene, according to police.
The Bellingham Herald reports the woman, in her mid-20s, was able to call 911 herself. Officers and medics responded to the apartment, in the 3000 block of Pacific Street.
The woman was rushed to St. Joseph Hospital. There was no immediate word on her condition.
Officers launched a search for the suspect using a helicopter and police dog. They also interviewed the woman's male roommate and said he is not a suspect.
Police also were talking to a man described as a person of interest.
No description of the shooter was immediately available. The investigation continues.
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This is a developing news story. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
The woman reportedly answered a knock at her door and was shot point blank by an unknown person who then fled the scene, according to police.
The Bellingham Herald reports the woman, in her mid-20s, was able to call 911 herself. Officers and medics responded to the apartment, in the 3000 block of Pacific Street.
The woman was rushed to St. Joseph Hospital. There was no immediate word on her condition.
Officers launched a search for the suspect using a helicopter and police dog. They also interviewed the woman's male roommate and said he is not a suspect.
Police also were talking to a man described as a person of interest.
No description of the shooter was immediately available. The investigation continues.
----
This is a developing news story. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
I don't open up for strangers either. If they knock a second time we might talk through the door, but rest assured, I'm always... prepared...
@Gadsden I move slowly enough these days that whoever knocks is often gone by the time I get to the door. That's fine with me as I didn't want to hear their spiel about new windows, chemical treatment of my yard or the local kids crying about needing new band uniforms at school.
The article states----
" Police also were talking to a man described as a person of interest."
Perhaps they already have a handle on this shooting. just perhaps.
If we don't know who is on the other side of the door (viewed through the peep hole) or are expecting anyone, we don't open the door. Too many crazy people out there looking to taking advantage of you (i.e., thieves, etc.)
Hopefully nearby surveillance /traffic cameras catch the POS and the BPD put him/her out of their frigging misery.Â
This is a prime example of why I don't open my door to strangers. Too many effed up people in this world!
@Tattooed_Angel2Â ah.. Â it's always so interesting to read the paranoid and cynical comments. Â You should move somewhere truly dangerous, and not waste all that great negative energy. Â I'm so sick of people with their "oh... the world is awful!! people are awful!!!" stuff. Â Seriously. Â Seek therapy.Â
@Â @DTÂ You should just leave your front door unlocked. Because you're right, there aren't a bunch of people out there desperate enough to make you a victim.
@DTÂ Not paranoid or cynical. Just speaking the truth. In my experience, strangers knocking on the door are either solicitors, missionaries, or criminals. I don't want to speak or deal with any of them so why should I answer my door?
@Tattooed_Angel2 @DT I have never knowingly had criminals knock on my door but the solicitors and missionaries sure do. I've thought of putting a sign on the door telling them that I do not patronize ANY door-to-door solicitors (including any kind of school or scouting group) and also that I do NOT allow anyone to proselytize to me but for some reason I don't think they would read it...or understand that it applied to them.
KOMO - please update us on this issue. For now, all the postings I've seen are guess work. It's likely it's a wrong address or the person shot her instead of the boyfriend. Of course, the person needs to be caught.
Is her name Sarah Conner?
lun4m0n0:Â nice....this woman might end up dead, and you are making some stupid joke...
Sounds like domestic violence. Other sites are quoting police saying it's "not random."
There is more to this story thats not being told to the general public as good police work should do..
Somebody got the wrong door,,, Â the solution is obvious,,, Â we need to ban doors,,, Â
@Cougartwin Or she told one of her neighbors to turn down his music or soemthing. Regardless this would be murderer needs to be put in prison with the rest of the animals that can't handle being out in society.
It sounds like a deliberate âhitâ.That would more or less; domestic, gang, or wrong address.Just like everyone else, I would like to read some background, but this is likely the only information we will get.If it isnât Bellevue or Seattle, it isnât news.
Stories like this are the reason I stopped answering my door about 5 years ago. When someone is knocking on the door when I'm not expecting anyone, it always makes my heart race. I don't like it, and I don't answer. It's always either the jejovahs witnesses or  someone selling something I don't need anyhow (or like in this case, someone up to no good). Too many nutjobs out there these days...
@Shelly Really, it makes your heart race?  I wonder how all of you paranoid people would do if you actually lived in a country that was truly dangerous?  I know that the thousands of murders you watch on tv in your life must seem real to you.. but it's amazing how paranoid people are.  Seriously... how many people do you personally know that have been shot or attacked by opening their door? How many in your neighborhood?  That'd be a sucky way to live, afraid of everything.  Yes, dont' open the door to a stranger, but being afraid if someone comes to your door? over-the-top.Â
@Shelly Just put a flag in your yard . The Jehovah witness ,not 7th day Adventist will knock. If they do ,tell them they can say and you will listen as soon as they pledge allegiance.
@Shelly I have a sign on my door that says "No Solicitors or Bible Thumpers" Works about 98% of the time.
I think I'll go pick up a No Trespassing sign on my way home. There's usually a blank line underneath. I'll have to think of something to add about the bible thumpers. "Bible Thumpers will be Shot" perhaps. :)
Theres always that 2% that don't get it.
I am seeing on other sites that it was not a random attack.Â
"This is a developing news story. More information will be posted as it becomes available."
No, it won't, if KOMO's track record is any proof.
Funny how people assume the shooter is a guy, Not likely but it could have been a female, Maybe a jealous ex of the victim's boyfriend or something?
Knock Knock.......Who's There?........Zombie...... :o)  I sure hope someone catches this creep and takes the appropriate action to administer the cure.
@TreeTopFlyer creep? ummmm probably a bit worse than a creep
Another insane person or total idiot with a legal handgun or one stolen from its legal owner...
And you've determined this through you psychic abilities????
Interesting.... No concern with the victim, just a desire to make wild uneducated claims.... Says a lot about you.......
@JD2Â Deductive reasoning - something some people seem inordinately unfamiliar with.
Fact #1: With very few exception, virtually all guns in private possession today were originally sold lawfully. Guns used in crimes are generally either stolen or else are being so used by a person who was not (yet) a convicted felon when the purchase was made.
Fact #2: "Normal" people do not simply knock on a door or ring a doorbell and then shoot whatever person or whatever woman answers and opens the door. Maybe some people THINK that normal people would do such things, but I would hold that those so thinking are not themselves "normal" and are likely somewhat inherently threatening to society as a whole themselves.Â
Combining Fact #1 with Fact #2 and adding the published description of this crime of attempted murder would seem to lead rather inexorably to the very statement I made.
Supposition #1 (based on considerable personal experience and observation over 60+ years): People who go off half-cocked because someone else states something patently obvious which threatens their own elective fantasies of "how things just ought to be" are inherently insecure and are merely expressing that insecurity in hostility toward others (a pretty common behavior, really).
@JD2 So, you think this is a sane person or total genius with an illegal hand gun or the legal owner of the gun? Regardless, we have another gun possessor out there killing people. The ultimate hug a thug program - make sure they have access to guns.
Arg... Edit function doesn't work very well.... Should read "you're" rather than "your"...
From the information so far we don't have any idea what it is. Could be a legal gun owner who did something illegal, Could be someone who obtained the gun illegally, Could be someone who can't legally posses a firearm. At this time there is no way to tell, so why make insulting comments that imply a legal gun owner is responsible for this person having a firearm, unless of coarse your biased or have an agenda....
Sounds like someone whose boyfriend / husband maybe messed up in something they not supposed to .. this has fingerprints of a sort of warning
Manhunt... any tag requirements? Limitations? Who can join in on the hunt?Â
In all seriousness, I hope she makes it, and can provide positive identification of the perpetrator.. so he can be thrown in jail... for attemted murder.. (not assault with a deadly weapon) you don't shoot someone in the chest, if you aren't trying to kill them..
Hope she makes it and locks this coward up!
Is she married?
Hope this woman recovers and is able to tell police more about the suspect. KOMO, please put out a description ASAP! Things like this are why I come to the door, gun in hand, and look through the side window at the front porch before I ever open the door itself. Sad that's what our world has come to but there it is.....makes you wonder what is really behind this story, because it is just so random.
@dg54321Â "what our world has come to." NO, it's what YOUR world has come to. Â Crime is down, way down from 10 years ago. What is up, is the fear-mongering... and the paranoia. Â You really walk up to your door armed?? Â Seriously? Â You should move to Somalia, or somewhere really dangerous, and find out what true danger is. Â Â You guys are the ones that are creating this crappy situation with your paranoia and cynicism. Â Â You're the problem.
@DTÂ @dg54321 Crime IS down if you look at it as per capita BUT since the population is growing by leaps and bounds actual incidents ARE increasing.
@dg54321Â If you're wondering what is behind the story, how do you know that it's random?
@KOMO_Sapiens @dg54321 As the story is presented, that's how it seems. Random. But I wonder if there is more than is being presented to us, as there usually is. Clear as mud?
So little information here, would be so very odd for some random person to knock, click and bang. So many more details required before this can be counted as a story!
@SchönLicht HA. As if we don't have plenty of loose thugs that attack people and kill them for very little reason. It's probably one of the tuba man kids - I mean animals.
Something in this story is missing.
@PlumBUSTED! Duh. Of course there;s something missing. All the facts aren't in yet. And it's always possible the police will withhold some small, distinctive fact to eliminate future copycats.Â
How bizarre and frightening, hope she survives.