‘Super encouraging’: King County prosecutor reveals promising gun violence statistics
Nov 26, 2025, 12:00 PM | Updated: 3:05 pm
Each quarter, King County releases its shots-fired report, which recently revealed a positive trend for gun violence in the third quarter with a reported 130 incident reduction compared to the third quarter of 2024.
King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion joined “Seattle’s Morning News” to provide her input on the encouraging results, noting that several factors have contributed to the strong forward momentum that continues to keep gun violence incidents in decline.
“I am encouraged that this is the third quarter in a row where we have seen reduced gun violence in King County,” Manion said. “When you look more long-term, and compare the third quarter of 2025 to the third quarter of 2021, when violence was at an all-time high, there has been a 65% reduction in the overall number of shooting victims. We have seen the lowest number of shots fired incidents prior to 2021. All of this is super encouraging.”
Manion cited various community organizations that have made a massive impact on the lower gun violence statistics year over year, despite low staffing in certain police departments.
“It’s a number of factors. The fact that we have partnered with law enforcement, and we are working closely with law enforcement to solve non-fatal shootings. Law enforcement has renewed resources, and while they may not be at perfect staffing levels, they are faring better than they were in 2021,” Manion said. “We also have an encouraging pilot project in Kent, where the Kent Police Department and community organizations are working together to reach out to individuals close to gun violence before they become victims or perpetrators of harm.”
To round out the analysis of the favorable shooting statistics, Manion reassured that the job is not done and that there is still plenty of work to be done en route to a nearly crime-free county.
“Typically, in the third quarter is where we see a spike in gun violence because of the summer months. In quarter four, I’m watching for a continued reduction, and I’m going to be watching to make sure that there is not a delayed spike,” Manion said. “Just because violence is down, it doesn’t mean that we are crime-free or that we stop working. We still have important work to do. While this is encouraging, we are not done.”
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
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