Editor’s note: This is the first story in a continuing series on West Hill’s efforts to cope with crime, a struggling economy and social issues. Someday, Skyway could become part of Renton.

Pete and Kate Vermeulen were walking their three young children to the car for a weeknight church event, when a vehicle sped around a corner and crashed in their driveway.

Before Pete could close the front door of his Skyway home, the gunshots sounded.

It was the end of a car-chase shooting that started in Seattle.

As two of the victims fled into a nearby yard, a single shooter rolled down his window and emptied five .45-caliber rounds on their car.

Kate grabbed the kids, pushing them to the ground.

As far as sheriff’s deputies know, no one was hit. However, the ruckus brought out the neighbors, and they began to talk.

The Vermeulens are among dozens of West Hill residents who have started Block Watch groups in the past couple years.

As the district battles with high crime rates and shrinking policing resources, a community is rising up to defend its neighborhood.

“Every time there is a crime, we all feel sick and discouraged, but it strengthens our resolve to stand up and take back our streets,” said Michele Savelle, an organizer with Skyway Solutions.

King County Sheriff’s deputies arrived about 25 minutes after the shooting. The suspect soon turned himself in to deputies in Seattle.

The 27-year-old hasn’t been charged yet for the mid-July incident, according to court officials.

Skyway residents are battling a regional identity of being a hotbed of crime.

Even with statistical data in hand, the Sheriff’s Office can only guess at how the district stacks up against other cities, said Jim Hilmar, supervisor of the sheriff’s crime-analysis unit.

Cities tend to have more police officers, increasing the ability to take reports and residents’ willingness to give them.

“There’s no secret that there’s a disproportionate amount of violent crime that happens up there,” said Renton Police Chief Kevin Milosevich.

Skyway had three homicides in 2009 and 21 assaults with a firearm. Combining both of White Center’s unincorporated policing districts nearby, there were no homicides and only nine assaults with a firearm in 2009.

Major crimes make up such a small part of a population, they shouldn’t be used to judge an entire neighborhood, said Sheriff’s Major Jim Graddon, who is in charge of what his office calls the Greater Skyway Area.

For an urban district with a transient community, Skyway’s crime rates aren’t unusual, he said. “Overall, the numbers are not spiking out of control.”

However, he has had a concern for a recent increase in burglaries, he said.

Renton’s Earlington neighborhood has also seen a spike this year.

There were 234 reported burglaries in West Hill in 2009. Unincorporated White Center had 208.

“From my perspective in dealing with burglary victims over the year, the sense of violation that they feel is very much equivalent to a personal assault,” Graddon said. “I take that very very seriously.”

On National Night Out in early August, the Vermeulens hosted a community barbecue to encourage neighbors to join their new Block Watch group.

The grill was hot and the table stacked with treats, as neighbors lounged in lawn chairs and shared burglary stories and tips about alarm systems.

Kate apologized for not noticing the most recent burglary, something Block Watch groups are more apt to do.

“You know to watch out for each other,” said neighbor Stephanie Baker.

The growth of Block Watches the past two years can be attributed to the work of Deputy Marty Hodge, who runs a Skyway storefront office, Graddon said.

With almost-promised budget cuts next year, the storefront is on the chopping block, he said. “It could go away, and yes there will be an impact.”

The district has two patrolling officers at any given time, and that will likely never change, he said.

West Hill is like an island, surrounded by an ocean of cities. When major crimes do occur, the closest county backup is on the other side of Tukwila.

It’s typical for nearby agencies to request backup for shootings and homicides, but the county has also asked Renton police to answer domestic-abuse calls, Milosevich said.

“They’re good people, they work hard, it’s just they’re stretched thin,” he said of the deputies, adding, “There is a potential we may be assisting King County more often.”

Renton City Council voted to put annexation to West Hill voters. If the district decided to annex, Milosevich plans to split the area into two districts and have five to seven officers patrolling at any given time.

Counties take a much different approach to staffing.

Having two sheriff’s deputies in West Hill is sufficient, Graddon said. “The way a Sheriff’s Office staffs and the way a municipality staffs can really be different things.”

Given a choice to increase patrols, he’d simply add staff on Friday and Saturday nights, he said.

“I would never turn down additional police resources,” he added, but “I know the political reality.”

Renton police would also provide two motorcycle officers for traffic control.

At the Block Watch party, neighbors counted the cars that blew through stop signs. About every other car stopped.

For being in a neighborhood, the Vermeulens live on a busy road.

Reckless drivers have even been seen “making donuts” in the Y-shaped intersection, Kate said.

On West Hill, people are connecting through more than just Block Watches.

On a Google discussion group called West Hill Connects, residents share the good and the bad about their neighborhood.

Posts about gunfire are made as quickly as phone calls to 911. They’re interspersed between messages about movies in the park and the community garden.

Recently community members gathered to repaint a 20-year-old mural that had become a magnet for graffiti and tagging, said organizer Savelle. “Skyway Solutions fills the gap for some of the social-service projects.”

By encouraging neighbors to join projects like these, it not only improves the beauty of one street, but it builds connections among people working to make West Hill a safer place, she said.

The ultimate goal is to change an undeserved reputation that Skyway is a haven for crime, she said.

“Some people are afraid to come here,” she said, but “The vast majority of people up here are law-abiding.”

Before the shooting the Vermeulens were planning on leaving Skyway, but they felt called by their Christian faith to stay and work toward change, Pete said. “People don’t have to give up or leave to make things better.”