Dori: Seattle shooting suspects part of cycle of absent fathers

Is anyone else a little incredulous that the two downtown Seattle shooting suspects remain on the lam?

What kind of criminal masterminds are these two guys? The police have to know who their relatives and friends are, have to be aware of places where they could be hiding. Five days after the violence at Third and Pine, it’s amazing that the Seattle shooting suspects have not been found.

KOMO 4 did a really interesting interview with a woman named Sheila, the mother of one of the two suspects, William Tolliver. She was in contact with her son once, and told him to turn himself in. Sheila told KOMO that her son was not a gang member — he didn’t “rob banks,” he was just “a petty thief in and out of stores.” As if shoplifting from stores is alright. If you own one of those stores, I’m guessing you feel every bit as ripped off as a bank does — more so, actually. A bank is a big corporation that can take the hit much more easily than a small business into which the owners pour blood, sweat, and tears.

Here’s the really heartbreaking part — this William Tolliver has two young kids. What chance do those poor kids have?

Dori: Durkan’s failures, political correctness caused downtown Seattle shooting

This is the cycle that I was talking about last week. This is the issue that too many are afraid to discuss. There is a cycle of violence in communities where dads are not present. Now two more kids will grow up without a dad, too, if their dad is convicted of this murder and spends many years in prison.

Jenny Durkan says we need new investments as diversions for kids who might join gangs. The fact is, if you are a kid who grows up without a dad — or with a dad who is out doing drug and gang activity — you are severely disadvantaged. More than 75 percent of gang members grow up in a household without a father. And no amount of government-funded midnight basketball or whatever is going to undo 15 years of having only negative role models in your life. There is no spending that out-overwhelms the day-to-day work that good parents put into their kids.

I’m sure everyone will tell us what a caring father he was. I think the fact that he was on the streets of downtown Seattle in illegal possession of a firearm, doing whatever it was that led to that shootout tells us that he was not the greatest dad in the world.

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