Of the 11 homicides in Seattle this year, one-quarter of them occurred in the last five days.
Last night around 8:30 p.m. a 17-year-old boy was shot in the head by an acquaintance on the 700 block of Airport Way S, according to the Seattle Police Department’s Blotter. Police determined that the victim and the 19-year-old suspect had an argument at a park on the shore of Lake Washington earlier that day. After the argument, the soon-to-be-victim was driving down the street with a group a friends—past the other man’s house—when the man ran out of his home with an assault rifle and shot once at the victim once in the head, killing him, and ran back into the house. Officers responded to the scene and called out a SWAT team upon receiving information the suspect was still in the house (his mother’s house). But after two hours of attempted negotiation, SWAT officers entered the house to discover that the suspect had fled. Police received a tip later that night that the suspect was in a house in South Seattle near SW Andover St. and Delridge Way SW., where officers arrested the man at around 6:30 a.m. Thursday without incident.
On Wednesday at around 12:30 a.m. police were called out to a shooting in the area know as “The Jungle,” a homeless encampment on the 1700 block of Airport Way S. under I-5. When officers arrived, SPD Blotter reports, they found a homeless man dead from a single gunshot wound to the stomach. Officers interviewed members of the surrounding camps but couldn’t get a description of the suspect.
Garrett McCulloch and Eli Sanders reported on the tragic home invasion that left one woman dead and another badly injured in the South Park neighborhood on Sunday. Police are still asking for assistance for any information on the suspect.
Even so, SPD spokesman Jeff Kappel says crime is at a 41 year low (which was also reported by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee in our June 30 issue). Officer Kappel further states “our homicides are way down from last year, and if you look at the history of Seattle violent crime is way down from the eighties and nineties.”
Yawn….all south of the Ship Canal?
Check.
Obviously the light rail has made crime worse in our city.
Let’s build a monorail to alleviate the crime.
Dear Unpaid Intern,
Bummer about the health insurance.
You shouldn’t put up with that.
Haven’t you been suffering a heat wave in Seattle recently? Bet that’s playing a role in it.
On another note… since Dan and other stranger staff were foolish enough to feed the troll @ 3, can you just ban him now and be done with it?
Most if not all of these crimes were perpetrated by males under the age of 30. Do young men have a hard time in Seattle? Are they disenfranchised, isolated, ghettoized, maladjusted by social institutions and a dysfunctional culture? Are drugs getting more expensive, or more scarce? Is it the ingestion of neurotoxins since early childhood that drives them to homicide? Or is it lack of air-conditioning? Do they have no constructive, creative outlets for their anger? Speak to us, modern youth! Let it out!
Are you serious? Only 11 homicides in Seattle in 2009?
In Chicago, we had 199 through LAST week, and have had a handful already this week.
Seattle population: ~600,000
Chicago population: ~2,900,000
5 times the people, almost 19 times the homicides.
Holy crap.
These stories are tragedies, but that lower crime rate in the midst of economic crisis is something to celebrate.
FWIW, in July of 2008, Chicago had almost 70 homicides. JUST.IN.JULY.
Stunned.
Not Shy in Chi, I’ll whisper you a little secret about oh-so-liberal Seattle with its low murder rate…..we don’t have a lot of **cough cough** black people here.
This, of course, also explains WHY everyone is so liberal!
It’s also why they never have episodes of ‘The First 48’ here.
@8 – wrong.
You meant to say “people like me think there aren’t a lot of black people in Seattle”.
You REALLY need to get out.
Hint, go ride the light rail and actually walk around in the neighborhoods.
Do the same in West Seattle.
Surprise! Lots of black people!
(frickin white enviro activist people who never leave their neighborhoods …)
Cute, Seattle is the least black of any major American city: only 8% of the city. Hands down one of the whitest cities in America, it’s 70% white. Only Portland beats us, which explains why they are more liberal down there. It’s easy to be liberal when it’s all theory.
Of course, we have a lot of Asians, but a lot of white guys like to date Asian girls, so that we can look liberal and have women who actually look like women not lumberjacks.
On last night’s incident, that’s the 700 block of 32nd Ave South, in Leschi. Details, details.
Stupid White Idiot,
Seattle is 10.0% black. San Francisco is 7.3% black but has twice the homicide rate per capita. Los Angeles is 9.9% black but has a gajillion times the homicide rate per capita. San Diego is 7.6% black, same story. Denver is almost the exact same size as Seattle, is 11.1% black, but has had 25 homicides this year (over twice as many). Portland is 7.9% black, is smaller than Seattle, but has also had 11 homicides this year.
Meanwhile, of the three homicides in Seattle the past week, one of them was by a stupid white man (the only one caught), one was a black man, one unknown.
The only common denominator amongst homicide perpetrators is that they are men over 95% of the time. Minorities are convicted more often, white people get plea deals or are found not guilty more often.
No, Seattle is 8.2% black and dropping as the city and CD are gentrufied….follow the sound of gunfire towards Kent if you don’t believe me. Look it up, I did:
http://www.seattle.gov/oir/datasheet/dem…
Stupid White Man, I come from a town with no black people at all, yet everyone there is really backwards and incredibly conservative (You’d love it!). By your logic, shouldn’t it be a hotbed of flaming liberalism?
(I know I should indulge Stupid White Man, but he’s so cute…..)
Oh no, Seattle’s definitely progressive and getting whiter year by year just like Portland. I’ve seen a new trend of adopting cute African kids rather than just cute Chinese girls, so I think liberals around here have a back plan to assuage their guilt.
Catalina, you must feel right at home in lily white Seattle then unless you’re helping gentrify the CD?
For a northern city in the West, 8 percent is pretty high.
And the reason we don’t “have black people” is that most black people here are multi-ethnic and show up in the multi-racial category.
Frickin moron.
Yes, pretty high. Kinda like being a tall midget. Seattle is still 70% white. I’m sure all very liberal and tolerant though as they drive blacks out of town creating their high priced progressive paradise.
Plus, Twisp had about 100 years worth of homicides this week, thanks to a guy from Seattle.
11? 11 homicides? We’ve had 126 here in Charm City THIS YEAR. What are you worried about?
No doubt Balt! Seriously, Seattle is safe as any place I’ve ever lived. All the white liberals I know help. The worst you have to worry about is passive/ agressive liberals in Subarus giving you the eye. Don’t get us wrong though, we love diversity up here in the liberal Great White North of the Ship Canal: I mean practically every car has an Obama sticker so that’s kinda black.
Cancer.
@5
Since Dan and other stranger staff were foolish why don’t we ban them?
Stupid White Man, I’m just a Beacon Hill Housewife. (If I had my druthers, I’d be a Seward Park Housewife). But I do work in the CD every single day, with nary a problem.
“But I do work in the CD every single day, with nary a problem.”
Well that’s why they call it ‘black on black’ crime honey.
Are people still bouncing off SWM like he’s real? Hahaha…
As for the statistical argument, hooray for yet another official using a statistical technicality to dodge the issue. Because nobody ever manipulates statistics for their own personal gain.
Stupid white man: How do you figure Portland is getting white-er? The African American population rose from 6.6% in 2000, to 7.9% in 2008…unless I’m slow I’d say thats a pretty big increase.