Harger: Local media must keep shining light on crime-riddled Aurora Avenue
Jul 23, 2024, 6:55 AM | Updated: 11:57 am
Signs for isjonajohn.com posted along Aurora Avenue. (Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
(Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
Have you been up on Aurora Avenue in North Seattle lately? It’s jaw-dropping. Day and night, you see women forced to walk the sidewalks, often stepping into traffic, risking their lives to find customers.
The situation gets even worse. Johns pick these women up and pull into nearby neighborhoods, shattering the peace and safety of families trying to live their lives.
But that’s not all. The pimps trafficking these women are in a violent turf war, shooting at each other with neighbors and prostitutes caught in the crossfire.
We’re covering this a lot on KIRO Newsradio and MyNorthwest.com, but it’s still not enough.
More coverage on Aurora Avenue: A group of residents tries to crack down on prostitution along Aurora, but is it legal?
Let’s talk about the neighbors first. KIRO Newsradio reporter Luke Duecy spoke to a woman who wanted to stay anonymous.
“It’s unsettling,” she said. “I have a three-and-a-half-year-old kid and we live just a few blocks away. It’s not a good feeling.”
KOMO 4 obtained surveillance video of a recent pimp shootout. About a dozen rounds were fired in just three seconds.
Saturday’s gunfight on Aurora Avenue North in Seattle caught on camera is believed to be the result of a turf war over sex workers, said Seattle City Councilmember Cathy Moore: https://t.co/iS69YDEQqZ
— KOMO News (@komonews) July 10, 2024
This is not OK. This part of town has always had issues, but nothing like this. My grandparents lived there, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was nothing compared to today. Now, regular gun battles echo through the streets, and your kid could look out the window and see a sordid transaction happening.
Neighbors like Jim Tillman are furious, and rightfully so.
“We, as a neighborhood, know when, where, why and how this is going down,” Tillman told KIRO Newsradio’s James Lynch. “We can even identify some of the vehicles.”
‘Just senseless violence:’ Neighbors grapple with another shooting along Aurora
Tillman demands more from the Seattle Police Department.
“If they’re not doing something, like a sting or some sort of operation to stop this in its tracks, they’re not doing their job. Period,” Tillman said.
This isn’t about clutching pearls or judging sex workers. These women are in grave danger and we are turning a blind eye. The last time I drove down Aurora, I saw a little person walking the streets. How can she defend herself against someone with bad intentions?
This situation reminds me of when I interviewed the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, for the old KOMO Radio. Ridgway slipped under the radar for years. He was convicted of murdering 49 women in the Seattle area. Ridgway told me he killed closer to 85 women, with dozens of bodies that still haven’t been found.
“How hard was it to get prostitutes to get in a car with you, especially when there was all the hysteria about ‘The Green River Killer’ being out there?” I asked Ridgway.
“It wasn’t a problem at all,” he answered. “My opinion was … they were just homeless and needed the money, you know, basically, I think,” Ridgway said.
“How would you convince them?” I pressed further.
“Normal talking to them, basically, you know?” he said.
In other words, he acted normal, his victims got in his car and they just drove away.
He said, “In prostitution, the guys, the johns, they don’t give a crap about the women, you know?”
Who’s to say a new Ridgway isn’t already out there? Just last year, a man was accused of kidnapping an Aurora Avenue sex worker, driving her to Oregon and locking her in a cinder block cell.
More coverage on Oregon kidnapping: Man who allegedly locked Seattle woman in cinderblock cell attempts jail escape
These women are in danger. The neighborhood is in danger. Yes, we’re covering this story a lot. But if we in the media don’t continue to sound the alarm, our silence will allow this danger to grow.
Charlie Harger is the News Director for MyNorthwest.com and KIRO Newsradio.
