This has been a nasty week for gun violence in Seattle.
A 40-year-old man was shot and killed within the First Hill neighborhood early Wednesday morning, Seattle police stated.
Video surveillance cameras captured the execution-style deadly taking pictures of a 23-year-old man inside a Rainier Beach hookah lounge early Sunday. A 29-year-old safety guard, who was shot a number of occasions, additionally died.
Later that night time, greater than 100 rounds have been fired shortly after 9 p.m. in West Seattle, although nobody seems to have been hit, police stated.
Gun violence in Seattle has elevated considerably prior to now decade, together with post-pandemic. Between 2020 and 2024, pictures fired elevated 71%; nonfatal shootings elevated 58%; and deadly shootings elevated 23%.
It is a disaster, and it have to be handled as such.
Seattle Metropolis Council President Sara Nelson and Mayor Bruce Harrell requested town auditor to check out present patterns of gun violence. The report was produced on March 25 and offered to Nelson’s committee on March 27.
The auditor discovered a number of weaknesses within the metropolis’s method and advisable enhancements for the Seattle Police Division.
Throughout the presentation, there was some back-and-forth between representatives of Harrell and the Auditor’s Workplace as as to if the suggestions have been already underneath method. That’s the incorrect response.
Seattle residents need to see a continuing enchancment of governmental operations, notably in relation to public security. The truth that different cities comparable to Baltimore and Milwaukee have skilled decreases in gun violence underscores that Seattle has an extended approach to go, and endurance is exhausted.
The auditor discovered that Seattle doesn’t at present have entry to analysis info from the King County Regional Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention, which is housed in Public Well being — Seattle & King County.
Because the auditor famous: “Public well being information is important to totally understanding patterns of gun violence in Seattle.”
Different notes from the auditor:
The Metropolis of Seattle doesn’t routinely have interaction within the varieties of downside analyses that determine “key folks, locations, and behaviors almost certainly to be concerned in violence” that gives the muse for directed, efficient gun violence methods.
The town doesn’t routinely or systematically have interaction different departments, different authorities entities, and group companions in an “all-hands-on deck” method to addressing gun violence.
In June 2023, SPD obtained a report on its investigations performed by the Heart for Proof-Based mostly Crime Coverage. The report discovered that SPD doesn’t observe many greatest practices for “investigative effectiveness” and that “even when the SPD returns to full personnel capability, these organizational weaknesses will proceed if unattended.”
The auditor drafted 4 commonsense suggestions, and, fortunately, the Mayor’s Workplace “usually concurred.” Hopefully, there shall be efficient follow-up.
However Councilmember Maritza Rivera famous on the dais that she had repeated conversations with Harrell’s workplace about her constituents’ issues about gun crime, with little outcome.
“I’m dissatisfied that I’ve been sounding the alarm with some people within the Mayor’s Workplace … about what’s within the district, to no avail,” she stated. “This report underscores there’s a centralization downside within the public security — notably gun security — area.”
The nice and cozy climate has simply begun, which usually coincides with the more serious months for gun violence. If what town is doing isn’t working, change it. Different cities have proven enchancment. So should Seattle.
