West Seattle is on a penninsula west of downtown Seattle, facing north. The Duwamish River, a working river, separates them & ends in the Port of Seattle complex.
The north & west side of W. Seattle is nice, middle class bedroom community. The east side heading south is more lower-working class, with a 60's housing project thrown in just to set the tone. To the south is White Center, affectionately known as Rat City. This shooting occurred just inside the shabbier part of W. Seattle.
W. Seattle is generally very quiet. The nearest Seattle Police station is across the river to the east, about 20 minutes away. They're just now getting around to building a new police station in SE. W. Seattle, to be closer to where the action is (what little there is).
I've yet to figure out why they call it "white center".