Brandon Roy's R.O.Y. Birthday Party Ends in Brawl, Gun Sighting, and Roundup

Can the NBA do anything right?

Brandon Roy, widely regarded as one of the good guys in the league, threw a party to celebrate winning the NBA Rookie of the Year on Friday night at Level 5 on Lower Queen Anne. He and friends, including several NBA and NFL players, were hanging out in the VIP level when fights broke out on the dance floor, the cops were called, and things got real.

Seattle gang unit detectives monitoring the crowd spotted one man crouching and walking slowly with a handgun. Police confronted the suspect as he got into a Chevrolet Impala in a parking lot just south of the club and he tossed the gun out the window, police reports say.

He told investigators he had pulled the handgun from another man who brandished it while fighting with him. The suspect said the fight started because he was dancing with the other man's girlfriend and the confrontation continued outside, where the man pulled out the weapon, police reports say.

According to cops, the guys fighting were not "affiliated with the athletes." There were 600 people there, so it's not like Roy knew everybody personally.

Two men were arrested. No one, apparently, was hurt.

Level 5 is on 5th and Broad, an area that's seen its share of gun violence. When I was a Garfield High student, about four years before Brandon Roy got there, I personally saw a man get shot to death at the McDonalds just down the street after a Garfield football game. Good times! Ugh.

UPDATE: Bob Condotta and Jennifer Sullivan of the Times report that it was Roy's birthday party, not to celebrate his Rookie of the Year award, and that the other NBAers there were Will Conroy, Chris Wilcox, and Jason Terry.

Hat tip to Slog