The New Year on Capitol Hill started out with the violent murder of
Shannon Harps, and things have only gotten worse. While Harps’s death
has become a defining moment for the neighborhood, it’s only one in a
series of attacks—both gay bashings and random
assaults—that have made it clear that violence has come to
Capitol Hill.
Last weekend, two men became the latest victims in a yearlong string
of seemingly random, violent incidents on Capitol Hill.
•February 3, just before 2:00 a.m., Thomas Colonna and Brad
Crelia were attacked near Olive Way and Howell Street when three men
jumped out of a car and beat them. Witnesses gave SPD the car’s
license-plate number, but so far police say no arrests have been
made.
•January 26, Maurice Alan was shot and killed outside of the
Baltic Room nightclub. SPD’s gang unit is investigating.
•December 31, Shannon Harps was fatally stabbed outside of her
Capitol Hill condominium, allegedly by a felon with a history of mental
problems. Seattle police say the attack was random.
•November 19, 21-year-old Michael Anthony Bassett allegedly
fired shots inside of the Sugar nightclub, wounding three. Within a day
of the shooting, Sugar’s owners decided to close up shop.
•September 3, Andrew Geske was attacked and called a “faggot”
by a motorist. A passenger inside the car grabbed Geske’s arm as they
sped off, dragging him for several blocks.
•August 12, Cerril Turner hurled antigay epithets and attacked
Christopher Petty at the Shell gas station on Broadway. Petty was
wearing a shirt that said “Queer.” Turner was sentenced to 60 days in
jail.
•July 25, one man was shot and wounded outside of the Satellite
Lounge, around the corner from the Seattle Police Department’s East
Precinct.
•June 20, two gay men were threatened in the parking lot of a
restaurant on Broadway and Denny Way. Two men in their early 20s are
awaiting trial for the incident.
•June 10, Jason Mancillas was beaten by as many as six men
after he left a gay bar with his boyfriend.
•March 10, shots were fired outside the Sugar nightclub,
wounding one man.
•February 2007, Seattle police cite “ongoing” problems with the
now-defunct Club Lagoon. Many Capitol Hill residents and employees of
nearby businesses claimed they had been targeted and harassed by
homophobic patrons.
In the last year, Capitol Hill has been abuzz over a cultural shift.
Community leaders speculate that the broadening popularity of the
Pike/Pine corridor has brought a “bridge and tunnel”/Belltown crowd up
the hill. Some Capitol Hill club owners believe that a crackdown on
nightlife in other areas of town has pushed problems to the relatively
underpoliced Capitol Hill.
While the King County Prosecutor’s Office has seen a spike in the
number of hate crimes committed on Capitol Hill, a recent report from
the Seattle Police Department and Mayor Greg Nickels’s office says
crime in Seattle is at a 40-year low. 
