Seattle Gun Violence Spreading into Suburbs
More than 60 percent of shootings in King County, the largest county in Washington State, last year occurred outside the city.
Landwebs
Long one of America’s safest cities, Seattle recorded 612 shootings and shots-fired incidents in 2021, nearly double its average before the pandemic, and the city has experienced its two worst years for homicides since 1990 as gun violence now spreads outward from neighborhoods more commonly plagued by violence into the suburbs, reports the Wall Street Journal.
More than 60 percent of shootings in King County, the largest county in Washington State, last year occurred outside the city. King County is dispatching what it calls peacekeepers to work with young people they have identified as prone to committing shootings, becoming shooting victims or both. The city’s downtown Harborview hospital has hired a past shooting victim to counsel the crush of gunshot patients entering its doors, hoping to keep them from returning for the same reason.
Meanwhile, demoralized police officers have left in droves, with roughly 360 officers exiting Seattle’s force in the past two years, leaving about 950 in the department to battle the rise in shootings. Stops and other activity initiated by officers also dropped by 27 percent in 2021, and police response times reached historic highs. Harborview hospital treated about 300 to 350 gunshot patients annually until two years ago when, in 2020, there were around 400 and more than 500 in 2021.
