Reality check: Three aggravated assaults among 300,000 people--none of them fatal, by the way--is not an aberration. Consider these numbers: For the entire year of 2002, there were 2,338 aggravated assaults (serious attacks involving a weapon) in Seattle. Average those assaults out over the year, and that's about 6.4 a day, throughout the city.
At the Seafair parade, there were 300,000 people crammed downtown--which, granted, is a riskier setup than your average day in Seattle. But three aggravated assaults (about half the daily norm) for a crowd that's a little bigger than half the Seattle population (just over 560,000 folks call Seattle home) isn't outrageous. The shooting and two stabbings were pretty normal, statistically speaking. After all, there's crime in Seattle every day. Even Seattle City Council Member Jim Compton told TV cameras, "This is not a big deal." He's absolutely right.
