Spike: Two shootings in three days in Seattle, and my kid was at both

As a parent, and any parent will tell you this, very little, if anything, is more important in this world than the safety of your child. And as that child grows and begins to explore the world around them, along with their newly developing sense of maturity and independence, the feeling of concern and sometimes full-on worry grows with each new step into each new adventure.

Now factor in the undeniably valid concerns that the city you raise your kids in, the city you have known and loved for most of your life, is undeniably changing, and not for the better.

This was brought into stark focus for me this weekend as my youngest, a recent college graduate, informed me that during a Friday night outing with friends to the Capitol Hill neighborhood, everyone in the bar they were visiting was forced to fall to the floor because of the active shooter situation just outside.

He had been standing just four minutes earlier. After several minutes of tense uncertainty, a bar employee instructed everyone that the situation was safe and that everyone should make their way — quietly and orderly — out to the street. Where numerous Seattle Police Department (SPD) and emergency vehicles had already gathered.

It wasn’t the only brush with tragedy my family faced that weekend

Unfortunately, this has become a far too frequent occurrence for that part of the city. Capitol Hill is also where my other kid works. She manages a bar that just last winter was the scene of another shooting that forced the patrons and employees of her place of employment to seek cover and wait for SPD to give the “all clear” and allow them to leave what had become a crime scene. 

This is where I need to mention that my youngest child, the one who was in the active shooter situation Friday night, works at the Seattle Center. And was working Sunday during the Bite of Seattle. Which was the scene of a mass shooting Sunday evening. One hundred yards from where my kid was working. Two days after he survived an active shooter in Capitol Hill. 

We’ve all seen the stories far too often of families and communities ripped apart by gun violence. And silently we thank God that we were spared from this most horrific experience. Of late, it seems like we have that thought on an almost daily basis.

I love my city. I love my community. I love my family. But not in that order. I think most of us can understand and indeed share that sentiment. Still, I love my city too much to throw up my hands and declare surrender to the problems it faces. I love my community too much to abandon my support and efforts to do whatever I can to help make it a place I can enjoy and be proud of.

I love my children too much to let my concern and yes, even fear for their safety stifle their independence and their gathering of the life experiences necessary to learn and grow. This is a balancing act every parent experiences many, many times during the journey of raising our kids. The recent far-too-close brushes with tragedy our family faced in my beloved Seattle this past weekend have just made it a balancing act with much, much more at stake.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3