Early Saturday, a man sleeping in a residence near the Alki Homestead woke up to the sound of shouting voices and a car alarm. He looked out the window and saw cars racing through an alley and heard a volley of gunfire. Although no one else called in a report, he later discovered that his vehicle had been rifled through during the night.

Late Saturday, a citizen on Genesee Hill called 911 to report a loud group of young men hanging out in the 4100 block of 51st SW. But when he returned from making the call, the incident had escalated and turned into a scuffle, with one male firing about eight shots toward the group. (Officers later found seven spent cartridges.) The 21-year-old shooter?an Arbor Heights resident?was later caught and was highly intoxicated. He claimed he had been jumped and that he had simply shot in the air before running away. He had a 40 caliber Glock tucked in his waistband, an empty 40 caliber magazine and carried a stun gun in a holster on his hip. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of aggravated assault with a handgun.

Another report of seven to ten gunshots came from the area of Delridge and Holden. In this case, it was a domestic disturbance in which a man locked his wife and children out of the house. Happily no gunshots were involved: The noise was caused by the wife banging on the house window with a pole, trying to get her husband?s attention. She and the kids spent some time at the precinct until her husband would let them back in.

On SW Barton, a mom was waving knives around, and when her daughter said she wanted to go live with her dad, mom told the girl she?d "slit her throat" if she did. The girl called grandma and said, "Mom's acting wacko." Grandma called 911. Officers found the woman uncooperative and sitting on a bed, right next to a butcher knife. Mom was arrested for investigation of domestic violence nonaggravated assault.

Officers pulled over (and held at gunpoint) a driver who had displayed a weapon and threatened to use it in a road rage incident at 26th and Barton. The suspect repeatedly denied being involved and protested that he didn?t know why he was being pulled over. His protests came to a screeching halt when he was told that the witness who called 911 was an off-duty police officer who saw the entire event unfold. The 25-year-old Tacoma resident was booked into King County Jail for investigation of unlawful use and concealment of a weapon.

For more cops, crooks and capers, check out The Thin Blue Blog, Megan Sheppard?s citywide police blotter: www.thinblueblog.com