Neighborhood alert: Arrow turns up in Beach Drive-area backyard

Every so often, we hear a “shots fired” report – sometimes it’s bullets, sometimes fireworks. But we can’t recall hearing about someone discovering an arrow, till now: A Beach Drive-area resident (5400 block of SW Edmunds; map) found a “full-size arrow” in the backyard on Monday morning. “Not sure what the deal is and we’re not concerned that we were targeted but we have two small dogs and that arrow would have definitely injured them as well as one of us had we been out in the backyard at the time it arrived. Don’t know when it was shot but suspecting it was after dark.” Main concern here is that “there are a lot of little kids and animals in our neighborhood,” so of course it’s been reported to police.

Rick February 22, 2011 (7:38 am)

Most likely an “assault” arrow. They should be banned.

Rick February 22, 2011 (7:46 am)

sarcasm! Seriously though, if they go up they gotta come down. Not funny.

redblack February 22, 2011 (7:54 am)

maybe blake island is planning an attack. we should catapult an SUV over there in response.
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seriously, though, are those weapons registered like handguns?

Laura February 22, 2011 (7:55 am)

Wondering if anyone else heard what I’m hoping were fireworks around 3:45 this morning? There were about 7 or 8 loud pops, woke up the whole family. I live just north of Lowman Park.

J February 22, 2011 (8:18 am)

Laura- I heard them too, I live on murray Ave. I counted 11 “pops”……assuming they were fireworks since I didn’t hear any police sirens??

KatherineL February 22, 2011 (8:50 am)

What kind of tip did the arrow have? Blunt? Metal? Was it a hunting arrow, or a child’s toy?

datamuse February 22, 2011 (9:10 am)

redblack: bows don’t need to be registered, but it’s also pretty much illegal to shoot them anywhere or at anything not designated for the purpose.
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KatherineL: I was wondering that myself. I do target shooting with a traditional longbow and it has such a light draw weight that I use lightweight youth arrows with it (and only at designated ranges, folks). Not that it wouldn’t still hurt if it hit somebody, but if someone was shooting hunting arrows in a residential area that compounds the idiocy.

Laura February 22, 2011 (9:24 am)

J- I must have woken up by the 3rd or 4th pop and afterwards was waiting for sirens too. Just seems like a very strange time for fireworks but hopefully that’s all it was. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who heard them!

ArrowFinder February 22, 2011 (9:39 am)

It had a metal tip that was probably blunt but it landed on concrete so it’s hard to say for sure. I’m not familiar with bows and arrows but I don’t think this was a toy.

WSB February 22, 2011 (9:39 am)

Re: shots/fireworks/whatever – These reports are not infrequent, and all I can tell you for sure is that nobody was shot, and we haven’t received any reports of gunshot damage (shot-out windows, bullet holes in car doors, that type of thing) … One person did send us a note about hearing 11 shot-type sounds near Juneau/48th (uphill from Lowman) … I am checking with police to see if by any chance they determined what it was, but when nobody is actually hurt, that’s often impossible … TR

Laura February 22, 2011 (9:42 am)

Thanks WSB. I figured since there weren’t any sirens and nothing reported here, that it wasn’t anything major. Just a bit unsettling when it wakes you up in the middle of the night. They seemed really close!

datamuse February 22, 2011 (9:49 am)

ArrowFinder: hard to say for sure without seeing it, but it sounds like a targeting arrow or youth arrow (which just means a lightweight arrow designed for lighter-weight bows). They have small, blunt tips to cause minimal target damage. Hunting arrows or broadheads are nasty-looking things because they’re designed to cause as much bleeding as possible on impact. I think you’d know them if you saw them; they look like what most people probably expect arrowheads to look like. (They’re also expensive so I wouldn’t expect somebody to shoot one casually.)
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That said, shooting a bow in a residential area is a dumbass thing to do regardless of the type of arrow used and I can definitely understand your concern. I hope it doesn’t happen again.

ConcernedCitizen February 22, 2011 (10:39 am)

Gun shots … When I (very infrequent) have called one in I never hear a siren … don’t know if they respond or not! The one time a woman was screaming and 3 shots fired…. police showed up at my door 3 hours later (2 in the morning!) and said “where were the screams coming from!?) … They scared the heck out of me by pounding on the door, and my response was “what! 3 hours have gone by!” They sat in front of my house for about 1/2 hour!!!

WSB February 22, 2011 (10:56 am)

There won’t be a siren unless someone is reported injured, or is injured and ambulance/medics have been called. Particularly in the middle of the night when these things tend to happen.

amnesiak February 22, 2011 (10:57 am)

agreed with datamuse, sounds like an arrow for target shooting. given that, it sounds like it was probably a stupid ‘accident’, ie, someone was playing around with something that they shouldn’t have, or didnt really know how to use, and it wound up going way further than they thought it would.

let’s hope they got a nasty burn on their arm from the bowstring!

Lura February 22, 2011 (11:14 am)

Was there any wear or weathering on the arrow? This close to the beach, one possibility is that it came from anywhere else in Puget Sound, perhaps a legal and safe target practice location, and somehow wound up in the water and later washed up in the beach. Then a crow carried it and dropped it. Sounds strange, I know, but we’ve had the oddest items wash up on the beach, and quite a few strange things wind up on the roof or in our downspouts. Crows are curious, and often pick up and carry strange stuff. Just one possibility.

rusty February 22, 2011 (12:20 pm)

redblack

handguns aren’t registered in Washington state.

david February 22, 2011 (2:06 pm)

The pops in the middle of the night was a roman candle. Looked out the window from the bluff and saw it.

jissy February 22, 2011 (2:16 pm)

WSB — indeed it was fireworks early this morning at Lowman… my husband and I flew out of bed in time to see them light up the sky. Right around 3:30 a.m. Such kind neighbors we have.

redblack February 22, 2011 (2:42 pm)

rusty: so a gun is only registered if you apply for a carry permit?

Laura February 22, 2011 (3:55 pm)

Thanks Jissy. Relieved to hear they were in fact fireworks, but confused as to why someone thinks that’s an acceptable time to celebrate?!? There seem to be quite a few night owls out and about in this area.

datamuse February 22, 2011 (4:46 pm)

Redblack: no, that’s just for the permit to be granted to an individual. You don’t actually need to even own a gun to get a CPL. Records are kept of pistol purchases from dealers, but that’s not the same as registration. There is no firearm registration in Washington as I understand it.