http://spdblotter.seattle.gov
A picture taken by a surveillance camera shows the suspect in Wednesday's Seattle cafe shooting, according to police.
By Msnbc.com's Jeff Black and Isolde Raftery
Updated 7:45 ET: SEATTLE -- At least four people were killed and two others wounded in two shootings minutes apart Wednesday, police said -- bringing the number of homicides in Seattle this year to nearly as many as in all of 2011.
Police said the man suspected of the shootings -- at a north Seattle cafe and in a downtown parking lot -- has died of a self-inflicted gunshot.
The man, who fit the suspect's description, knelt down in the middle of the road and shot himself upon seeing a uniformed officer approach, Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said.
It was unclear throughout the day whether the two shootings were connected but Pugel confirmed that they were during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. He said the similar caliber of the bullets have led police to that conclusion.
Police confirmed that two male victims were dead at the scene of a shooting at a north Seattle cafe at about 11 a.m. Two more men and a woman were taken to the hospital in critical condition. The woman died at the hospital, NBC station KING5-TV reported.
The shooting occurred at the Caf??Racer, a restaurant and music venue in a commercial district near the sprawling University of Washington campus. Roosevelt High School, four blocks from the incident, was on lock down as police looked for a suspect.
About a half hour later, some five miles to the south, a woman was shot several times during what police initially said was a possible carjacking at a parking lot next to Town Hall Seattle, a community cultural center in downtown Seattle.?Police found the vehicle, a black Mercedes SUV, and a handgun miles away in a West Seattle residential neighborhood.
Even before the shootings on Wednesday,?Seattle was dealing with an outbreak of violence that has stumped police officials, who have blamed it on gangs and weapons.
Two men were killed and three more people were seriously wounded in a shooting at a Seattle cafe by a gunman who fled the scene on foot. KING's Linda Brill reports.
At a City Council meeting on Tuesday, police put the number of homicides in the city at 15, compared to 21 homicides for all of 2011, according?to a report in The Seattle Times.?
Last Thursday, Justin Ferrari, a 43-year-old software engineer, was gunned down while running errands with his children in the Central Area. No arrests have been made in that investigation. And over the holiday weekend, four-drive by shootings, one that left a bystander wounded, were attributed to gang activity.
Read more on the KING5 website
Police have not identified the suspects in either incident on Wednesday, though a picture of the suspected shooter at the cafe was released late in the day. ?He was last seen running away and remains at large.?The suspect is described by police as?a white male, about 30 years old, wearing a dark short cap and a light blue jacket with well-groomed dark hair and a neat full beard.
Ted S. Warren / AP
A Seattle police officer stands outside a cafe where gunman opened fire on Wednesday.
One law enforcement source told KING5 that the shooting could be an act of domestic violence.
Evan Hill, who lives above the building where the cafe shooting happened, said the cafe was an artists' collective and performance space.?
"It's the strangest place to think of a shooting," Hill, who heard four to five shots, told The Associated Press. He said he ran to his balcony and called 911, but didn't see a suspect.
At the Trading Musician store next door, store manager John Herman said they didn?t hear any sounds until police converged on the scene.
?Our first customer of the day had just come from Caf? Racer, and he thought he walked out right as the person walked in,? Herman told msnbc.com. ?He thought he saw the (shooter) but other witnesses say that he may have actually seen a victim.?
Trading Musician employees hang out at Caf? Racer, Herman said, and the store holds its holiday parties there. Herman said other Caf? Racer employees had arrived and were standing across the street. The owner had also arrived and had been escorted by police to the crime scene, he said.
The Emerald City, generally considered a safe place to live, had 19 murders already this year. Last year there were 20. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
?They seem very upset, but I don?t know if it?s about the fact that it happened, or because they lost somebody,? he said. He said the Trading Musician was effectively closed, but that employees hadn?t left.
?We?re just waiting to find out what has happened to our extended family,? Herman said.?
The suspect in the parking lot shooting is also on the loose and is considered armed and dangerous, according to police. He was described as a white male, about 35 years old, blonde haired with a crew cut.?
Live video from a KIRO television helicopter showed heavily armed officers following a police dog through a residential neighborhood.?
Ibrahim Frishak, who was power-washing a sidewalk across the street from where the carjacking occurred, said he heard gunshots and saw a car peeling away,?The Stranger, an alternative weekly newspaper, reported.?
"I just got back a week ago from Libya on vacation to visit relatives," Frishak told the paper. Everyone over there carries guns, he said, adding, "Now I think Libya is safer than Seattle."
At an afternoon news briefing, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said he told police that their "highest priority is to find the shooters and bring them to justice." He also asked political leaders to look into gun laws and the culture of violence to see what can be done to keep weapons out of the hand of offenders.
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