Central District searches for solutions after rash of Seattle shootings

Seattle City Council members, police, and multiple agencies gathered with the community Thursday night, to talk about the frightening rash of shootings in the Central District, and ways to stop it.

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The Central District has been hit hard by gun violence in recent weeks, including a shooting last month in broad daylight near 21st and Union. The shooting killed a 19-year-old and sparked community-wide outrage. There have been several other shootings in the area since then, and locals are scared.

“These recent crimes, that have been in daylight hours in places where my child and I walk and bike, are really stressing me out,” said one mother. “I don’t feel that I can walk to Starbucks. I don’t feel I can walk to the library. And there’s been shootings in a place where my child bikes regularly … our whole community is suffering.”

Ahead of the meeting, City Councilmember Lorena Gonzales made clear this was a top priority.

“I have a sense of urgency around this … because we’re continuing to see shots fired,” Gonzalez said.

Seattle shootings

Department heads from the deputy mayor to the Seattle Police Department gathered Thursday to talk about what’s being done to face the issue head-on.

Seattle Police Deputy Chief Marc Garth-Greene laid out how many of these shootings revolve around drugs, among other disputes. That in turn prompts retaliatory shootings from the gangs involved.

“What we see a lot of here in the Central District is that they’re shootings of opportunities,” he described. “They’re not targeted, they’re not generally set up and waiting for somebody. They’re driving through an area, and then when they see somebody, they’ll jump out of the car, they’ll shoot, and then they’ll jump back in the car and flee the scene.”

He admits that can make these types of shootings are harder to solve, especially since they usually involve both uncooperative witnesses and victims.

“We just had a shooting down on Second and Pike, they know each other, the victim will not tell me who did it,” Garth-Greene said. “As long as we as a community allow this code of ‘don’t tell,’ ‘don’t snitch,’ ‘just let these things happen,’ or ‘I’ll go handle it myself,’ we’re going to continue to see these things as we go.”

He also laid out the steps law enforcement is taking to keep the area safe, and help solve these shootings. The hope is to avoid future gun violence with measures like overnight emphasis patrols in the area, special units focusing on gangs, and increased foot and bicycle cops on streets in the most problematic areas. Already, there’s been a 25 percent increase in that type of proactive policing in just the last four weeks.

Other city departments talked about measures they could take, like trimming trees in the areas, installing more street lights — specifically LED lights — and looking at traffic calming circles.

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Council President Bruce Harrell acknowledged those may not be the first steps you think about when addressing gun violence.

“The act of shooting someone with a gun — in my personal opinion — is an unnatural act. It’s an act of defiance,” Harrell said. “When we start talking about that kind of harm, and then we start talking about stripes on a sidewalk, LED lights, or things like that, it may seem somewhat removed, but as a policy maker, as a city council member, we’re trying to look at everything.”

Other solutions discussed included an employment program for kids, more community outreach, park improvements, and several other ways to keep children engaged over the summer and have safe places for them to go and stay out of trouble.

There were also suggestions from community members, including from Rainier Beach Community Center track and field coach Vic Roberson, who stressed the importance of having a program to deal with the trauma kids and families go through after shootings.

In the end, solutions for the Central District are still in transit, but the hope was to at least get a dialogue started to begin moving forward.

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