Police say a man in his 40s was killed Thursday night at MLK and Cherry when he was caught in the crossfire of a street shootout just after 4:30p. Police say the suspect “began firing a gun at individuals that he was in a verbal altercation with. The victim was struck by one of the bullets fired by the suspect, killing him. The suspect then fled the scene on foot.” A search for the suspect in the incident has so far come up empty. Police were looking for one person described as “a black male, light-skinned, late teens to 20′s, six feet tall, 170 pounds, hair in corn rows, possibly wearing a dark hat, red jacket with gray or dark-colored panels on it, shorts and red shoes” but have since backed off that detailed description.
UPDATE: Police have identified the 36th Ave man who died in the shooting:
The man – Justin Ferrari, 42 – is the second person killed by an errant bullet this year in Seattle, which has seen 15 homicides in 2012. That’s an especially high number for a city that for the last two years had a homicide rate comparable to the 1950s.
Ferrari, who was idenfied by police, was a senior software development engineer at Zilliow.com and also had worked at Cisco Systems, Pure Systems and attended Brown University, according to his LinkedIn page.
Original Report: Police are fanning out across the area around MLK and Cherry in search of two or three suspects seen fleeing the scene of a shooting.
Seattle Police says officers and medics are on scene for one victim and that suspects remain at large.
K9 units have been called to the area to assist in the search.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as we learn more.
Witnesses say this is the victim’s vehicle (Images: CDN)
Thanks to the Central District Staff for the updates. I appreciate the info. I live a few blocks away and have not seen anything about this on the local news stations.
kiro 7 just had a crew arrive and they are broadcasting live, showing the white van, with a tarp over the drivers side window, and the reporter indicated that the victim has now died and was still in the vehicle. What a horrible way to start the holiday weekend :(
I’m shocked by all the Bloods look alikes in this hood. Mimicking these gansters is disgusting. It allows them to hide in plain sight.
Even worse for his wife and kids.
Sounds like an exact match for the 31st & Cherry gang. This group of three are always walking in the alleys between 31st & MLK.
I agree. The victims family will never be the same. It is difficult to determine who plays for what team :) sometimes teenagers dress in a manner that could be deceiving. Athletic gear, in red/blacks/blues are widely worn by professional athletes and kids often mimic their favorite team/player. That being said, if the news reports are correct, to have someone shot and killed while sitting in their parked car, seems to be wayyyyy more then just a teenager enjoying the sunshine. Sadly, its probably another gang/drug problem. When is enough going to be enough? The suspects were described to be late teens/early 20s. I dont know about the victim. But something needs to change. :(
Promotion and protection of gangs must be supressed.
Not so hard. All these folks wearing red and black in the CD are not sports fans. Their not promoters of the local school team. They are gangsters, wannabies, and posers. Wearing those colors is shameful and suspicious. I dare them to try blue on if they are not Bloods.
Sorry about the long post, however, i was reading the blog at the rainier valley post, which has had lots of coverage regarding the shootings near the Seattle Public lib, Rainier Beach safeway, and the jack in the box restaurant.
I copy and pasted from their website, but i was surprised at how the numbers played out. The reason i am posting this, was just to show how limited resources are, and when we say that promotion/protection of gangs should be supressed, it seems like i can understand why gang supression may take a back seat at times.
Copies from Rainier Valley Post:
Normal staffing for South Precinct is ONLY 9 cars per 8 hour shift, responding to 911 calls. They cover an area from I-90 to the Skyway and the Duwamish River to Lake Washington. They are designated as “Sam, Robert, and Ocean Sectors and each has three cars. Ocean units cover between Beacon and the Duwamish. Sam Sector is the S. end of the Valley, Robert is the north. So when this went down, there were likely only 3 cars in the area, which is why officers could not get to the victim until back-up arrived. Ocean and Robert Sector Cars would have been immediately dispatched but even with lights and sirens they were as much as 11 minutes away.
In an emergency such as this the Watch Commander would have ordered Detectives, Community Police Team, and any other available officer out of their non 911 response duties at the Precinct (or wherever they were working). The Southwest Precinct would have cheated their Frank Sector cars into the Georgetown Area of the S. Precinct anticipating S. Precinct blowing through their resources and needing more cops. East Precinct on Capital Hill and West in Downtown would have done likewise. They would then look to other departments staring with King County, Renton, and Tukwilla. It did not come to that, but can and has been done.
Finally, the Homicide and Gang Units arrived. They had a large scene with many witnesses and lots of physical incidents to secure. They would have had officers guarding the officers securing that evidence and witnesses (i.e. an officer interviewing a witness and one or more officers looking around to make sure he didn’t get attacked from behind or ambush while doing so). They had to protect Seattle Fire Fighters. They had to send at least two officers with the ambulance. There were reports coming into 911 and over the air of 10 black males bragging about the shooting and heading from the Safeway parking lot to the shooting scene as late as 90 minutes after the incident.
Citywide there are 51 cars responding to 911 calls per shift. That means 1/2 of them were at Rainier and Henderson. That means if you came home last night and found your door kicked in and a trail of your stuff accross the yard, you might have waited hours or into the next Watch for two officers to come to your house (clear it with guns drawn to make sure know one was still inside) and collect evidense. I don’t know if they did it last night, but in similar incidents in the past, the Watch Commander has ordered dispatch to start taking and queing up non-emergency calls (e.g. noise complaints, the burglary that happened but is not currently in-progress, etc.) for later radio dispatch after the dust settled.
Normally the staffing is enough. A large incident like this impacts policing accross the South Precinct and citywide. They still get to the immediate life and death emergencies (e.g. assault in progres) but everything else waits.
…may we find ’em and fry ’em. The two children are going to have a tough road ahead.
The gang crap has to go and I’m going to do my part being a witness whenever the opportunity arises.
Saw a guy dressed just like that with corn rows. He looked worried. Arrived in a white Buick – beet up. Left in a Caddy. Then returned as was pacing around on the street. Lot’s of buddies coming and going as if the are being dispatched. 10 bucks and a beer says this is the guys. 516ish.
Did you call the police with this information?
Mark, I hope you called the police with this info.
Yeah, when I think of the description it sounds like a guy that hangs out down there. But that could be describing anyone.
Wow, this hits home. We drive the same type of VW Van through that intersection every day. And to think he was picking up his parents, with HIS KIDS when they got caught in this BS! Ohhh, I just hurt. What is it about the CD that a killing takes place and its no big deal….I hope we as a community with the police catch these dirt bags but chances are high that no one will talk and this tragic killing just becomes a statistic. We need signs and sketches of these pigs and put them up throughout the neighborhood so they know we’re looking for them! Not here, Not now, Not ever!
One small step we can all take toward addressing gang activity is to aggressively cover the gang tags/graffiti in our neighborhood – and there is lots of it. I realize it seems like an insignificant effort in the wake of a shooting like this, but it does send a message that the community is paying attention and won’t tolerate their behavior. Check out the following links – you can get all the paint and supplies for free:
http://www.seattle.gov/util/services/garbage/keepseattleclea&_removal/index.asp
http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/KeepSeattleClea&_Removal/VolunteertoCleanUpGraffiti/SummerPaintOut/index.htm
I have been dreading this day. Just down the street from my daughter’s high school, my son’s favorite playground, and the community center. This was inevitable – eventually all these discharged weapons were going to hit another innocent bystander. This is horrible and that family will never be the same. We need to stop letting these cases of shootings that don’t draw blood go unsolved. Just because no one is hit doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to stop. Eventually it is an innocent citizen driving through the intersection. This has to stop.
Thank you J.
I don’t see how covering graffiti is going to stop people from trying to shoot each other. Most of the graffiti isn’t gang related, it is just taggers.
Legalizing and regulating drugs would do more to end organized crime than anything. Their source of income and therefore what they are fighting over would just dry up.
how do we change it?
Did you call the cops?
when one of them dies…you know what, i don’t care. they want to bang…well, they should die.
but an innocent guy, with his kids?? these kids should fry. and i’ll be there with a beer and cigar toasting it.
and how is this not the headline on Seattle Times? what the f$%$ing f%^K? a story about a loose tiger is the lead? christ.
Jesus, this town is nuts, and it ain’t my kind of place. we’ll just do as we do, close our doors, pretend to be nice, but be passive as a bloody snail.
I contacted the police, felt strange seeing this post and not saying something especially because mark never said if he called or not.
Hi K. I took a community awareness class, and i thought that spray painted buildings etc…was just that…taggers….the police officer that taught that portion of the class illustrated how a lot of graffiti can tell alot about the gang(s) in the area and what gang has issues with other gangs. Crossing out someones name or tag is a disrespect. That was the one part that stood out in my mind. The class was a while ago, but i do remember that and the fact that the graffiti also can identify gang borders. Go figure.
First of all My favorite color is red and everyday I wear a black cap cocked to the side with 98144 emblazoned on the side….I’m not in a gang however I am proud of my neighborhood and I’m proud to say I live in the CD south of Yesler. Nothing less nothing more.
How many of you are rich white folks that live in a refurbished home next to somebody who’s owned their family home for 60 years? That’s partially why the neighborhood is so mad. How can somebody read how you comment on this and not feel guilty that they live in this neighborhood or feel bad because you don’t like who they are? I already feel like I might be targeted because I’m a sneaker collector with several pairs of red shoes.
Get to know your neighbors shake a hand once in awhile have a neighborhood potluck borrow a cup of sugar and stop jumping to conclusions make sure you’re business is all in check before you start running your mouth about the “hood”
A man died today in our neighborhood….take a second and breathe that in you don’t have any right to be angry it’s not your turn….SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD IT’S HURTING! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HELP?
WTF are you talking about? You’re defending a couple of idiots trading shots across a busy street who, as you might have read, killed someone with their stupidity. Your post says this guy deserved to die because you assume he’s a rich white guy? You are a moron.
That is entirely the point. It is disrespectful that they are tagging both private and public property. By covering it, it shows the community’s intolerance of their activity. They need to see, on a daily basis, that we do not accept this behavior. And we certainly don’t respect it, from anyone – gangs or otherwise.
That’s not what I’m saying at all…nice job resorting to name calling…
I didn’t say anything about this guy being a rich white guy and I didn’t say he deserved to die…quite the contrary…what I was saying was you’re profiling people and perpetuating a problem instead of stepping back and mourning for a neighborhood that’s obviously hurting…again I ask you what have you done for your neighborhood lately?
I’ll be down there tonight when I get off work from my job in the central district holding a sign that says I’m proud to live in my neighborhood. Hopefully you’ll be there too and we can chat face to face about being better neighbors to each other.
I live across the street from this scene, my front window looks right out on the van. We left for a few hours with our daughter to avoid her seeing the activity but coming back, what’s really disgusting is watching the average passer-by whip out their cell phone and take pictures. One particular gent with red hair, white pants and a black jacket contorted himself into all sorts of positions to try and catch a snapshot of the body as medical examiners took photos etc. Why? You are not the media. This is not a curiosity. It is a real human with real kids and parents. Your blurry cell phone photo proves what? You were there? Congratulations.
Just — disgusting and shameful.
This is very true. As a white parent to a mixed kid in this neighborhood the history actually IS IMPORTANT. If you care about stopping this it starts with creating better options for and INCLUDING the youth of our neighborhood, not ostracizing and labeling them. No one is making excuses for violent behavior. Morons are the one’s who do not look for the cause and effect…
Bullshit. I have lived iin this neighborhood for 14 years and yes, I am white but I am not rich.I have attended many potlucks and made many friends with my neighbors who have lived here for 60 years.
These fucking gangsters have NOTHING to do with the word neighborhood.
THANK YOU ^^^ FOR CALLING THE POLICE! I would have. Thank you!
i think your original post made excuses for this behavior. i see you didn’t mean it, but that’s pretty much how most folks reading it would have read it.
living in this neighorhood for the last 5 years has made me realize that the political powers that be don’t give a s#%t what happens here. they really don’t. if they did, the mayor would be there tonight and send a package to the council asking for more $ for the anti-gang unit and for youth programs. likewise, he’d work to get a ballot measure (which is how we do anything here) for the $.
but, he’s too busy riding his bike to get baguettes, worrying about connecting the burke gilman trail so all the $5k bike owners don’t have to ride on a…the horror…street. jesus, this place is concerned with more trivial crap when the real stuff is right in front of us.
Call to Action Candle Light Vigil 27th and Cherry Street 10:30 PM Tonight
This is tragic. As a father of a toddler in this neighborhood I can’t imagine how tragic this must be for this family. This is more of an emergency in my mind than a few broken windows downtown. I would like to see a state of emergency declared in Seattle. I am in favor of rounding up these thugs once and for all. I have done the neighbor hood out reach, block watch, witnessed robberies, even witnessed a drive by in SODO about ten years ago. This THUG life is BS!
I know every neighbor on my block. And many down the street from me. We have a block party in our alley every summer. I volunteer at Operation Nightwatch on 14th & Jackson, and have become acquainted with many of the homeless in the area. I am white, but not rich – just working class. I bought my 100+ year old home in the ‘hood 15 years ago and have been spending every cent I have to renovate it and make it my home. I have hispanic neighbors, black neighbors, asian neighbors, gay neighbors – they’re all represented in the CD within a 3 block radius of my home. I love it here – the inner city, the diversity. I don’t like the senseless violence. We don’t have to be passive about it. Volunteer in the neighborhood, help clean it up. There are many opportunities to step up and do that, regardless of your race or how you like to dress yourself every day. It’s a personal choice to be complacent or proactive.
Please contact us about the vigil so we can verify details — [email protected] or call (206) 399-5959
No, you don’t get off that easy for what you said. These guys are not the “youth” of the neighborhood. They’re twentysomethings that decided they’d shoot up the street at 4:30 in the afternoon. This is what you said: “How many of you are rich white folks that live in a refurbished home next to somebody who’s owned their family home for 60 years? That’s partially why the neighborhood is so mad.” Own up to it.
Yeah, white people moving in is causing black youth to be violent towards other black youth (this time hitting a bystander in the crossfire). That doesn’t make any more sense than when I heard it in 1964 when my then white and Japanese neighbors shook our head, just like we do now. “It’s all the fault of the white people – that we sold Grandma’s house to at 500 percent profit – that black youth kill each other!” Zzzzzzzzzzz
Fuck this, seriously.
500 block of 26th Avenue SOUTH?
10:30pm? Isn’t that going to interfere with all the drug dealing and prostitution that goes on around there?
yup. i give up. i really do. i don’t think anybody really cares. i don’t think the black community cares, i don’t think the white community cares, and i don’t think the city cares. thus, i’m done caring.
i care about one thing…those kids who lost their dad today. that wife who lost her husband, and those parents who watched their son die in an instant.
My husband and I only live a block away from the shooting. We actually left home and almost went down cherry and MLK at the exact time the shooting happened. It is very scary because we live in that back alley and I hate to say it but we always see thugs/gangsters walking down that way. I have always worried about something happening to my husband or myself. It is a shame we have to live in a society where we fear for our lives and innocent people get killed. This is so upsetting. I hope angels are with his parents and children at this time.
A candlelight vigil is a good idea–a way of expressing condolences for the family and mourning this tragedy.
This is so horrible. Will others attend the vigil tonight?
I’ve updated the post above with details about the planned vigil
I’m glad you said it. I was tempted when I walked by today, but decided it wasn’t needed. What was I going to do with it? Show it to my friends? I’ve seen enough ghoulish pictures, to cart one around with me seems in bad taste.
Who cares about official, if you care be there. 27th and Cherry 10:30 tonight,
@Elvis
There were plenty of people who care. All the neighbors I heard talking around the scene were unhappy about it. There was even a minister who came from out side the neighborhood to pray at yet another senseless shooting.
@JPresident: Precisely how are these not the “youth” of our neighborhood?
It is ignorant not to look at the whole picture and have sympathy for how it became this way here. Violence should not be tolerated. But neither should poverty or racism. As a mother of a young son who will more than likely be racially profiled in as few as 5 years I am deeply offended and concerned by your opinions. Will my child be ostracized as well, glared at, ignored and not be called the youth of this neighborhood?
As graffitijoe stated, this is the time to take a deep breath and see how to support the neighborhood, not call names…
I’ve driven that stretch of Cherry 100 times with wife and 2 kids in the car. Very scary – could have just as easily been me there today. You too I bet.
Love and strength to this poor guy’s family.
If anyone has a connection with the family please post what we can do for them. Food, $$, etc. I’m sure many would love to help in any way they can.
Jpresident-
I know what I said…I’m saying the people sitting here complaining aren’t the ones fighting for peace in the neighborhood they’re profiling people and throwing people under the bus. I’m sorry that I didn’t give a more thoughtful response for my anger…but we’re both angry about the same thing and that’s the fact that a senseless tragedy happened close to home! Smaller Tragedies happen around this neighborhood all day everyday but they don’t make the news enough.
yes, a friend of mine knows the family, I will alert her to this post.
graffitijoe,
At the risk of feeding a troll…
Just how are “rich white people” going to “target” you? They’re going to be “profiling people and throw(ing) them under the bus”? Well, that’s better than being killed.
I’m guessing it wasn’t “rich white people” who killed the guy in 2009 at the same intersection. Probably not “rich white people” who beat the guy to death on Jeff. & 25th this year or killed the kid on the Garfield playground. We know it wasn’t a “rich white person” who killed Officer Timothy Brenton at Yesler and 28th.
Pull your head out of your ass.
True!
THIS is what is sad… a whole bunch of folks, white, black, and otherwise devolving into finger-pointing over whose fault it is… My transracial family has loved the CD for the past 7 years and spent many a sunny afternoon at Powell Barnett Playground with our kids. My husband grew up in Oakland and I on the East Coast; we LOVE the vibrant and richly diverse community of the Central District. This is tragic no matter which way you slice it, ’cause the punks exchanging gun fire caught someone innocent in between… I would feel exactly the same if the punks had been white and the innocent dad had been black. What this community needs to do is rally against the “no snitching” attitudes that continue to contribute to unsolved crimes in this special special community. There is enough space for ALL of us who care about it.
Amen.
Is donating earnings tomorrow:
“Please help us put together a fund …for the family that loss their Husband/Father, in a senseless issue of gunfire today. We will offer to the family that loss their daddy/husband,brother, son, family man all monies earned after operating expenses tomorrow, This we will offer to the Widow and children of today’s senseless and meaningless violence.”
@kat, Good Lord…why is the “history” important as it relates to these two guys shooting up a public street? Lots of poor kids with no options go on to do better things than this–don’t lump them into this mess. There isn’t any excuse. Don’t point to racism, or classism, or anything to justify what they’ve done. You are perpetuating the problem.
Wow. I have nothing but pity for you Jpresident, your anger is so misguided. If you don’t know why it’s important there is really no hope for you. Do you think babies are born HOPING to be in gangs??? This is the first time I have posted here and surely the last. The ignorance is depressing.
Much respect to graffitjoe for speaking up, and love and hope to the victim’s family.
Sucks to see this senseless tragedy happen. My thoughts are with the family tonight.
As graffitiJoe said from the beginning:
Stop for a second and listen to yourselves…
And now let’s turn our attention to a family who is suffering and spend our energy and words supporting them… as any great community would…
You are “proud” of living south of Yesler? More than north of Yesler? Or on Beacon Hill? When you were looking for homes (60 years ago?) did you purposefully aim to live “south of Yesler?” Why is that? It sounds very territorial to me. Territorial, silly and childish. Or is it that I can’t understand this because I don’t get the “history” of the neighborhood, having moved here 13 years ago with my white baby. Because I fixed up my home which helped my neighbor, who actually had lived there for 60 years, sell her home for an astounding profit. You’ve profiled me, neighbor. I live at 31st and Cherry and I see these thugs every day. The older drug dealers recruit younger kids to sell drugs to the school kids passing through MLK/Cherry so the older dealers won’t get hefty jail sentences when caught selling to minors. They’ve got it figured out. They live five houses down and the grandmother has lived there for decades. Funny they don’t show up at the block parties to shake hands with anyone. Maybe it’s because I call the cops on them. In fact, I call the cops on my neighbors every week. Not very neighborly of me, is it? And, since you bought your house in the neighborhood 60 years ago, you are old enough to know that people get judged for sillier things than their shoes or cornrows. “Rich white people” didn’t invent this. My friend wears a nose ring and has a tattoo up his neck. He gets indignant when he receives sterotypical looks and comments that classify him as a counter culture punk. Well…news flash!…he looks like a counter-culture punk. Your favorite color is red and you wear a cocked 98144 hat, which you wear to…. show pride for your neighborhood? That makes as much sense as my friend’s nose ring. So, you both get sterotypical looks and comments for your choices. This is nothing new.
reading these post is intolerable. A man lost his life to senseless gun fire and people are on here going back and forth like this. SAD!!! REALLY SAD!!! As an adult, black male, father, and concerned citizen, no man should ever loose his life innocently like that, his 2 kids witnessed this and you “rich white and poor black folks” have completely lost your fucking minds!!! the reason it happened is kinda trivial. It happened, its not good, and a man lost his life, all the rest doesn’t matter!!! My heart goes out to this mans Family!! Wish I could give his family a big’ol hug. Sounds like some of you could use a hug too. Hurts!!!! this one hurts!!!
Please. The _Times_ hasn’t cared about folks gettng shot south of Madison for decades.
A white man who drives a white toyota minivan jumped out of his car, violently screaming, cussing, and accused my son of this crime. My son is 14yrs old, 6 feet tall, 170lbs, straight A student at WMS. He wasn’t even in the area of the shooting. he was on 34th and Union getting a Gatorade from the corner store when the man with cell phone in tote and police on the other end approached him to accuse him of this crime. Without knowing anything other than the first description was light skinned black male, this man felt the need to accuse a innocent child of a horrible crime for which my son was at baseball practice in another part of town during the shooting!! There are still black people that live in this neighborhood, we don’t all look alike, and this why there are RACE problems in america. This is a very tragic situation, but instead of us coming together for the family of the fallen, a huge wedge was just been driven in between are communities. Can we please just get along we all live in this community. We need to stop all this race talk when a innocent man has lost his life. MY HEART GOES OUT TO THE FAMILY OF THE MAN!!!!!
Riiiiight. Mini van driving white man jumps from his vehicle and walks up to a potentially armed suspect shooter and yells at him. Was his name Superman?
I can make sh*t up too you know.
Roberto, there’s no reason to accuse the man of lying. People do crazy, stupid things all the time, as the news article above clearly shows.
So much hate. it’s deplorable
Curtis, gangs aren’t a black thing. In other areas, you’ll find latino gangs and, yes, even white gangs. Constantly harping on the fact that our local gangs are black serves no good purpose, and just makes it look like you see their race as a primary motivator for their behavior.
Kat’s comments earlier in this thread are interesting. Many white people, I’m one of them, do think about the history, how we got here, what we can do to help make the race relations better. Part of the problem is that we have no language to talk across the races. When a white person expresses anger about a murder like this, and get told in response that they are angry racists who should be empathizing somehow with everyone, it just shuts people down. Then other white people start making overtly dismissive and racist comments which makes it “all true.” Except it’s not. Many many white people who live here are trying as hard as anyone in this City to find a way to be a community together. Lumping them all together as racist for being pissed at gangs/wannabes and the culture that respects/supports them? That is as much bullsh!t as some of the worst comments here, which admittedly are offensive.
It’s not a black thing, it’s not a CD thing, it needs to be a Seattle thing and a “these all could be members of my family” thing. Instead of identifying which “group” is at fault here, we need to be looking at issues we can do something about. Kids are not born “thugs” – I was at a nearby elementary school that went into lock down, more violence that young children are affected by, the kind that leads children to eventually become violent and look to becoming a “thug” to find one’s place in the world. A man lost his life yesterday, and a young man did something horrible that will end his freedom (and hopefully he will be caught). We all lost something yesterday. We all must take responsibility.
I am sending love to the wonderful family suffering from this senseless tragedy. My heart goes out to them and all that love them. I hope that we all can find the strength to support and love them, and each other.
Gangs are gangs.
Throughout the world and throughout history they have used violence and intimidation for their own petty purposes to exert control over neighborhoods, small towns, tribes, cities and even entire economies or countries.
We can choose to face this manifestation of gang behavior or, in our rage and helplessness, point the finger at each other, weakening our potential to respond.
I agree with the people who say first of all, let us acknowledge the terrible, violent loss this family has experienced. We are all feeling it in one way or another.
Then it is up to each of us to determine how we respond. Violence and intimidation have a way of triggering more violence and intimidation. Let’s be wary of this. We have a lot of tools at our disposal–this blog, the larger media, our schools, communitiy centers and law enforcement.
i was just sick of listening to curtis’s racist BS. i am all peace and love brother… he had a dozen posts in a row ending with one that was despicable. so much so that it was removed, hence my edit.
Except that he probably won’t get caught. Many in the CD probably know exactly who he is but will never say anything.
If we were banding together as one community who are all trying to do right by each other there wouldn’t be this culture of ‘no snitching.’ There would be a collective desire to do the right thing and turn the guy in.
Thus, there is really only one life lost, that of the victim. As for the young man, this will shape his path for the rest of his life, whether he’s caught or not. We can only hope that he feels remorse rather than pride for having taken a life.
lots of snitchin.
I hardly see how censoring peoples feelings and thoughts will lead us through this. We should be angerred and expressing it. What is already being done by our collective is to white wash this incident into the norms of the containment district (CD). Don’t speak out. Close the curtains. Drive a little faster. Cross the street, or better yet don’t go out.
Stop it? Sad how we are already cowering lower.
Curtis did not say it was blacks. He said it was a subset of our culture that glorifies gang behavior. They dress like it, talk like it, and blend in with it. We more than tolerate it, we feed it.
In the CD the looks of a ganster are well known. Not all the people who dress like gangsters are gangsters, but, they respect gangster life. They respect the violence on our streets.
Until we are all against the gangs, they will continue to grow and there will be more killings. Morn for the family. And be angry at the gangsters and demand change.
“If we were banding together as one community who are all trying to do right by each other there wouldn’t be this culture of ‘no snitching.’ There would be a collective desire to do the right thing and turn the guy in.”
My point exactly. Sounds like the victim and the shooter both lived in the CD. In my city. When it becomes your neighbor, your family, someone you can identify with, then you give up information to lead to the apprehension of the person who harmed him/her. If you see a relative, a friend’s child, going down the wrong path, you do what you can to help that person get his/her child back on the right path. Now we wonder if we will catch the shooter. What are we doing about preventing the next shooting? Conditions do not seem different today from what they were yesterday.
If anyone knows who this is and doesn’t talk then they too are responsible. All of us either live to make the world a better place or we live to make the world worse. These shooters are traitors to their families and neighbors. They destroy our safety. They destroy our community. They destroy our economy. They drive away jobs, and they effectively take away future opportunities from all socioeconomically disadvantaged people. Any good that they might have done in life will be overshadowed by the destruction they heap on our community. It’s a hell of a thing that they might wake up one day and realize that the world would have been better had they never been born, but that’s an assertion difficult to argue against. They’ve orphaned children, widowed a wife, bled a family, killed a piece of our community and a piece of our future. We are obliged as men and women to step forward and turn them in. These shooters are not worthy to be called men. Men are defined by their determination to do right and not by selfish and stupid gamesmanship and ridiculous conceptions of honor that lead to unjustifiable inane behavior. Stay strong and do right. Please.
With regards to a victims family fund: count me in for a donation. My heart goes out to the family. What a terrible thing to happen. Has anyone begun the process of setting up a fund? I will take the lead if it has not begun yet.
Also, what is SPD and the city doing about this? We should organize a strong and sustained response to let SPD and the city know that gun violence in broad daylight and gang activity will not be tolerated. We are all tax paying residents. SPD and the gang unit need to do a much better job. If more resources are needed, it needs to be figured out.
i think one of the big gulfs of understanding is the perspective that it ‘could be one of my family’…so somehow i’m personaly responsible. i think its a bit of a copout, because if it was one of my family, all of our family would be hauling him to the police…thats where the breakdown lies. not everything is societys fault or responsibility. sometimes great parents raise kids who turn out bad. but the immediate family should not enable that behavior or shirk their responsibility to do the right thing.
you will see something for the first time in the central district, beefed up patrols by police officers.
It doesn’t make any sense at all. We need to stop appologizing for people. Take responsibility for your own actions. Do something about it. This is the fault of two violent people shooting it out on our streets again and again.
This is not Mr. Facts fault for being a racist. His and others supposed racist thoughts do not kill people. Shooting somebody in the head is what kills them.
What are you people all talking about. It is not a complicated problem. There is a bunch of guys running around shooting at each other and they killed a man. His children, what can you say. My God.
Nope. Maybe today there will be more police. But not tomorrow. Police can’t solve hate.
If you want to talk about fixing the ghetto you need to address poverty. Arresting more young men of color is not the solution. But it’s easily the first thing privileged folks cling to as the end all be all solution, and it’s myopic. Criminal activity is the symptom of a very sick society. The sickness is poverty. Go to the same schools, grow up under the same living conditions, with the same lack of resources, and then try and talk about the justice of arresting your brothers and sisters for persuing the most viable option they’ve ever been given. Our society is responsible for this tragedy. The shooters are just pawns in a game.
Condolences to the families of all involved, and to the community. We have failed you.
The comments in which Curtis repeatedly emphasized that the gangsters were a “certain subset of a certain race” have been removed, which leaves my comments a bit out of context.
While I agree that we should not tolerate nor respect the thugs, I think we should be a bit wary of assuming that simply because someone dresses or talks a certain way, that they “respect gangster life” or “respect the violence on our streets”. The way I dressed in high school resembled the way skinheads dressed, but I was in no way a skinhead, nor did I respect them or what they do.
Agreed. Someone has to know something. As long as people remain silent about incidences like this it will happen again and again. We need more upstanding snitches. Let’s turn the word snitch into something positive.
I agree completly. However ….. this particular pawn has comitted a violent crime and needs to be caught and punished.
Seriously folks. This post and the comments went from a description of a possible suspect to blaming most of the black youth and families in the neighborhood in about 3 hours. How many of those ‘thugs’ you see on the street are simply area kids harmlessly hanging out in their neighborhood?
WE drive on Cherry as do our children and their children.Totall lack of respect has been going on for quite awhile with young people walking the streets with their butts covered ,though their over pants are dragging the ground .We all know what this means and it is allowed>We as a society are letting these youths know we have given up on them>Certainly this is a misdameanor of some sort,walking the streets proudly announcing gang membership ends up with this horrible murder.One kid who has the guts to expose the shooter and others involved will do more than all us other people who sadly have witnessed the gradual distruction of our once proud society.Who ever you are will we will be indebted to you PLEASE help us.
I don’t know about uppitypothead guy, but someone did call the cops on my 12 year old son, reporting they had seen the suspect. He has braids. He wasn’t wearing red and again, HE IS 12. He doesn’t look 15 and he surely doesn’t look 20. I don’t know who called the cops on him but the message that was sent to my son is MESSED UP. He’s 12 and his neighbors see him as suspect. This is a real problem. While many of you are spinning your wheels and profiling people and using info you get from shows on cable television, real people living real lives have to deal with this stuff in a way deeper way than you do. You might worry it could have been you in the car. I worry it could have been me too. I also worry about my son and how the perception of him as a criminal will impact his life. I worry about many of his peers who have the same problems. And I worry about his peers and their families who have WAY bigger problems. And I worry about my whole family who deals with this stuff all the time. Racism and senseless violence.
A misdemeanor for baggy pants?
A thug is now walking around, trying to be cool, knowing in his heart that the bullet he carelessly fired into that van appeared to shatter a window, but instead shattered a family — and part of his own soul.
His hideous act, mere seconds, now has the potential to now shatter decades of community building in one of Seattle most diverse and rich neighborhoods.
I do think the chatter last night/today has become divisive across racial and, maybe more important, cultural lines. I think we can agree there is a culture of banging in the CD, and that culture is the distinct minority. Recognizing that distinct minority from kids in the neighborhood is clearly something that’s not happening, and its causing problems for kids that are doing nothing wrong. (Although, as a kid that did wrong and his parents didn’t know, I’d challenge you parents to really understand what your kid is up to. My guess is more than you know.)
Anyway, the other point here is it cuts both ways. I have two neighbors…one black, one canadian. Oddly, I never say, “my black neighbor”; he’s just my neighbor. I do say “my canadian neighbor”, but that’s another story.
My non-canadian neighbor is a good guy, we’re friends, and he’s helped us out in a pinch. A few years ago I asked where his oldest son had been as I hadn’t seen him in awhile. He told me his son was dead, shot in the head at southcenter mall. I remembered the news. A few months later the shooter got convicted–to 17 years. Convicted of cold blooded murder and got 17 years? We didn’t hear about it, it wasn’t in the news as a travesty of justice, which it is. It just went by and we all went on.
The point is that the victims are of both colors and the justice system is failing us all.
A parent was killed in front of his young children. I don’t know the family, I don’t live in that neighborhood, but I am crying. For the children, for what they had to see, for what they have lost, for their shock and confusion and their grief. My heart goes out to those children and that man’s family.
I hope this brings this neighborhood closer together, rather than tearing it apart.
Pam,
I’m so sorry that your 12 year old son must make his way in the shadow of the gangbangers and the resulting skittish neighbors. I hope the police were okay with him. Hats off to you for the tough job of mothering a pre-teen boy through rocky water.
I’m saddened by this senselessness.
We all are.
And with the facts of this shooting what they are, gentrification will naturally and immediately come to mind. It was two black youths shooting at each other (I heard one was shooting over his shoulder as he ran away, so truly aimless, senseless shooting) and a white guy with a family in a minivan waiting at the light. Of course it sparks the white racists to action, saying it’s the fault of all the damn gangbangers and their friends/family and the black families in the neighborhood ‘who let this happen’. And there is an honest backlash by those of us that know it’s not a simple thing, that race and class and the stark divide between newcomers and those who’ve been here for generations DO play a massive part in explaining the dreadful tragedy of last night, that in the end this is gonna continue until we can all act as a community and foster a means of talking to these kids.
If you’re unaware of the history of the neighborhood you’ve moved into, please educate yourself.
Maps: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/segregation_maps.htm
Restrictive covenants denying the right to sell to minorities. Your house probably has one: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/covenants.htm
With the fall of the segregationist laws and covenants of the previous century, some families are moving away for bigger and better houses elsewhere, some are getting forced out by high property taxes, and some are staying. Keep in mind that the astronomically higher property taxes of the past 10-20 years has prevented families that are staying from doing anything but living. Goodbye new coat of paint when you owe $4000 instead of $400 each year. If you have an $80,000/yr job at T-Mobile across the lake that might not seem like much, but for a single mother with 3 kids and a high school diploma working as a janitor at the Hutch, that’s significant.
With the influx of whites and the outflow of black families to parts south, there’s a serious but slow breakdown of the social fabric that would be able to keep wayward teens in line. Now there’s no one on the street that knows their names, their families names. Family members are at work 10hrs a day and unable to send their kids to activities that would teach them shit and keep them out of trouble.
Then add the racist elements of the drug war to all this, such that black kids are stopped and searched for drugs for the most minor of crimes like jaywalking or hanging out in the park at night. This is why there’s a culture of no snitching, because you and everyone that looks like you is already a suspect so why give the cops ammo against your family? if your kid gets busted for some weed in the park they lose any federal student funding, their family home is visited by cops, they’re sent to jail with no money for bail, face high fines, and have no productive means of supporting their family, and you have this. Your white teenager is far less likely to be randomly accosted by a police officer and accused of committing a minor crime than a comparable black teenager. Let that sit for a moment and think what that does when compounded by generations of this going on unchecked. Look at Chief Diaz and Seattle Police Officer Guild president Rich O’Neill and ask yourself if SPD are committed to improving police relations with the public.
We’re not gonna fix all this by pointing fingers and increasing the divide between us. Have some compassion for the families of those involved in the shootout too, because they’re probably going through some tough shit right now. Their kids made some really bad decisions and innocent people got hurt and their immediate families are going to take a big brunt of it. Put yourselves in their shoes as well as the shoes of the family in the minivan (I’m sorry I don’t know their names.). We need to come together, not push ourselves apart.
Wow half of you talk about how it isn’t about rich/white whatever then turn around and act like this guy is making this shit up???
Some of you people are so out of touch with the day to day of a minority in this country, state, city, neighborhood. So out of touch.
the police dont have to solve hate. people need to turn these criminals in.
Give me a break! I am black, grew up in a dysfunctional house of now divorced parents, etc. It doesn’t matter who moves in, fixes up their home, what they do for a living, or who their neighbors are. None of this has anything to do with the senseless killing of an INNOCENT man, while his family watched! GTFOH! His kids are in public school, and he frequented a diverse restaurant. He supported his community and you have the audacity to try and tie this to some BS about how the community has changed and who lives there now? This is why we aren’t much further than we were. My kids go to private school and we are at that intersection DAILY. That could have been me, or you, and if it were, what would you say about the demographics if it were a black innocent person shot and killed? Your argument is both ignorant and offensive to those of us who are black and have chosen to live in this area, fix up our homes, have good jobs and still don’t care who our neighbors are. The ‘hood has changed because ‘hoods don’t last bruh. Gangsters don’t want to shake hands and get to know their neighbors. They don’t want to be ‘seen’ by regular people. They have no ownership or pride that is true to humanity, because they are uneducated and inhumane. They can’t relate to us, they aren’t angry at us. They had a chance and a choice to make, they didn’t have to choose the lifestyle. All of your reasoning still doesn’t give them an excuse to put innocent lives at risk. Please don’t associate ‘my people'(black) with senselessness, violence and disregard for human life. There is no rehabilitation, they decided that when they signed up for ‘gang life’. That is the real tragedy here.
Don’t give up, I am black and I care! I have been CONSUMED by this tragedy b/c it could have been me! It is senseless and I think that we need to get a hold of the mayor and declare a state of emergency. We shouldn’t have to live in fear that we will be shot just going about our daily lives. Don’t give up! I’m here with you willing to do whatever it takes to make our city safe. It’s not just your area. I live in Mt.Baker, but kids attend in Madrona and it’s not everywhere, the police know there are really 2 bad pockets, Cherry St., Henderson St. (SE Seattle). They have to have the resources to round up these hoods and make life hell for them. Where is our gang unit Mayor McGinn? A dedicated squad that can snuff this B.S. out. Don’t give up my friend!
Give me a break! I am black, grew up in a dysfunctional house of now divorced parents, etc. It doesn’t matter who moves in, fixes up their home, what they do for a living, or who their neighbors are. None of this has anything to do with the senseless killing of an INNOCENT man, while his family watched! GTFOH! His kids are in public school, and he frequented a diverse restaurant. He supported his community and you have the audacity to try and tie this to some BS about how the community has changed and who lives there now? This is why we aren’t much further than we were. My kids go to private school and we are at that intersection DAILY. That could have been me, or you, and if it were, what would you say about the demographics if it were a black innocent person shot and killed? Your argument is both ignorant and offensive to those of us who are black and have chosen to live in this area, fix up our homes, have good jobs and still don’t care who our neighbors are. The ‘hood has changed because ‘hoods don’t last bruh. Gangsters don’t want to shake hands and get to know their neighbors. They don’t want to be ‘seen’ by regular people. They have no ownership or pride that is true to humanity, because they are uneducated and inhumane. They can’t relate to us, they aren’t angry at us. They had a chance and a choice to make, they didn’t have to choose the lifestyle. All of your reasoning still doesn’t give them an excuse to put innocent lives at risk. Please don’t associate ‘my people'(black) with senselessness, violence and disregard for human life. There is no rehabilitation, they decided that when they signed up for ‘gang life’. That is the real tragedy here.
RBoogie, I love your posts. Thank you. “They had a chance and a choice to make, they didn’t have to choose the lifestyle.”
Mopery used to be a crime – but they took it of the WAC about 20 years ago. That would cover it.
how sorry I am for the family that has suffered this tragedy. I appreciate the comments, I feel the grief, I feel somewhat hopeless.
But, I am hopeful when I see people being straight up honest and reaching out to each other. I am hopeful because we have a community that comes out to share, comfort each other and work together toward solutions even though it is never ‘simple’. Thank you for bringing people together and organizing a vigil and a fundraiser for the family. Thank you neighbors for showing me why I really love my home — it is not the house, it is the people around me.
My hope is that we all can do our best to know our neighbors, love our children, develop community, and improve the situation in all of the different ways that each of us can contribute. And I see a lot of great suggestions. I am not a PollyAnna, I know that ending violence in our community requires vigorous and sometimes painful and emotional hard work. In my opinion, what I see here, really talking to each other, is a profound step in that process. Thank you from your neighbor.
Nobody is blaming all the neighborhood youth. This was done by gang bangers. What is being said is that there is broad approval of the gang life style. The neighborhood kids do dress and look like the gang bangers because it is cool. It is the look of the day, just like the idiotic bell bottom pants of the seventees or those horrid Britannia jeans of the 80s. Of course the hippies and socialites weren’t gunning down the neighbors. But those became uncool and we all went to tight assed Levi’s and got jobs. That is what I’m suggesting. No longer accept gang dresses as cool. Those diaper pants looking kids with red hats should be laughed at and mocked until the learn what a belt is for. If you accept them as they are they will never get a job. And will continue looking up to the thugs as role models.
Hoe to stop it. Demand and achieve the CD not be a conatinment zone for these criminals. No other neighborhood would the city to containe it in their neighborhood for so long.
Rbogie, you nailed it! Everything you have written is so true.
Aaron what part of criminal containment zone do you not understand. This will blow over and it will be same old same old as it has for 40 years or more
What part of criminal containment zone do you not understand. This will blow over and it will be same old same old in the CD by the city policy as it has for 40 years or more
Amen Boogie, Amen.
Maybe we can all put our heads together and brainstorm how to make this a closer community and unwelcomeplace for a couple of gangbangers. I moved to Leschi in the fall and have felt more connected to neighbors and businesses than I ever did in capitol hill. I love it here, but I knew this was a potential issue when I moved. It doesn’t have to be this way. The community center being built on mlk and cherry will hopefully bring more presence to the corner. I called the east precinct and they only have 2 cops for the whole area. This is the norm right now bc of slashed budgets. They recommended I call the mayor’s office and get as many other people as I can to, also. They said to ask for more overtime cops. If enough people make a fuss, they’ll listen. What else? A petition? Volunteer watch patrols?
1500 police and we get 2. So call the mayor and suggest we pay more for police. Let’s see. If we double the SPD budget we will get 4 officers. But, not here to complain about SPD tonight. 10,000 cops cant solve the problem (well maybe).
Yes, we must have 20% of our citenzenry on patrol. All able bodies should get out on the streets on a regular basis. Unfourtunately that is only 20% of us. Just get out their 2-3 hours every few days. Just go for a walk and linger here and there. Look at people. Bring your phone, your dog, your neighbor. That would put 10s of thousands of witnesses on the street every day. It’s the only thing that will work.
And by patrol I mean go for a walk. You don’t have to shoot kids. Just go for a walk. If there are hundreds of us it won’t be all that dangerous. See you tonight?
Right on RBoogie
Wanting to see, to understand. Sure it doesn’t help. But that’s what we do. We take a picture and say – hey, here is my life today, does anybody give a crap? And the answer is no. Just another pointless post on facebook of another dead guy. I might as well join him.
Agreed about the cop situation, but this seems like a problem that needs to be chipped at from multiple angles. I know a lot of my neighbors, but I’d like to meet more…maybe a block party in that weird park at MLK and Cherry is in order?
I walk my dog in that area all the time. I’ll see you there. :)
@Roberto I have no reason to lie about this event. Me and this gentleman talked at length about the situation, and he agreed that he too, was caught up in the emotions of a life being lost, and reacted to what was being said on this website! My son being fully aware that he is a suspect before he leaves the house in the morning, handled himself In a very mature way. Very proud of him for that. Roberto these are the kind of things I have to teach my son about. My son in no way dresses as a gangsta, has no braids, wears glasses, had on shorts and a colorful shirt! He in no way had resemblance to the said suspects, other than the fact he is a lighted skinned black male! Sad that my point of he is always going to be a suspect, because of how his family tree was planted was proven in the neighborhood where, he should never have to feel this way. MY HEART GOES OUT THE FAMILY OF THE VICTIM. People quit making this ino something else! I did not want to take any focus from what’s really important here, the victims family! Let’s not prejudge each other!
Mr Facts: SRSLY. Get a grip.
The SPD has been working with your CD neighbors and increased patrols around Parnell’s for over four months in response to the increase in drug dealing and prostitution, primarily after the pressure they put on the corner at 23rd and Union quieted that area down and increased that crap down here.
It takes many committed neighbors going to many boring meetings and letter writing and stuff to get things happening. And it takes committed cops: they have been coming to our community meetings, the city attorney’s office has made it to meetings. I don’t see anything but commitment from the cops.
Is more patrols the answer to this problem? No, absolutely not, but I have to say THANKS to the SPD because they’ve been working with us as one part of a complicated problem. I get tired, really tired, about folks on this blog saying that SPD or SDOT or whatever is not responsive: they are freaking responsive if you get organized with your neighbors and make some noise. Pot holes on our street fixed in a a few days. Signs replaced when they get tagged. Cops doing drive throughs. Why? Because we are organized. Because if a pot hole shows up we get ten people to send in complaint letters the same freakin’ day. If some dumps shit, the city gets called ASAP. When ask the cops to come to our community meetings, they come. This happens because we have many neighbors working together to solve our neighborhood problems…
I started going to East Pac Crime Meetings due to all of our issues down here. Those happen every month. Two cops are every meeting to take your concerns and fill you in on all the investigations. You want to know how many people are at these meetings? Sometimes like SIX or EIGHT. These are meetings to discuss crimes with the SPD across the entire East Precinct and to let cops know what the hot spots are and issues with drug houses etc. And there are like SIX PEOPLE there. Heck, the last meeting I went to half of the people in the room were from our little 4 x 8 block neighborhood and ready to talk about drug dealing and Parnells. You think that doesn’t help get your more patrols? It does.
So yeah, you want more patrols? Well, you don’t get them by leaving snide comments on a blog.
The best advise I ever received was after the Office Brenton shooting (we had just moved in a few months ago), at a community meeting down the street from my house. The office said it quite simply, “Say ‘Hi’ to everyone.” And that’s it. Just look them in the eye, smile, and say hello.
I agree and do the same, at the very least nod in acknowledgement.
I grew up in the country, if you have ever been deep in the woods or rural areas you will notice that everyone waves when they drive past each other. It is a way of showing that everyone is OK, and it is suspicious when people don’t wave back. Saying hello in the neighborhood is a similar concept, people that don’t respond tend to be up to no good.
Mopery is more like loitering – not a dress code. Baggy pants look stupid but shouldn’t be a crime.
Normal neighborhoods don’t tolerate graffiti. They don’t try to pass it off as “art” or as a way of expression for disenfranchised youth, or any other nonsense.
Seattle did not use to have a gang problem. During the late 80’s to early 90’s, though, we must have laid out the welcome mat for them, because things changed dramatically in just a few years. Some gangsters, observing the goldrush, even moved up to Seattle all the way from California! They knew that they could make a living here, and they seem to be doing okay at it. Now, in the old days, if a gang shot up a town, a posse would chase them into the country (or even all the way down to South America in the case of the Wild Bunch) and capture them. Today, a Seattle gang might have a facebook page with a picture of the street sign showing the corner where the gang lives…and, well, they don’t get chased anywhere and heck, there facebook page isn’t even shut down. The gang thrives and increases. Perhaps it would take federal action to break up some of the gangs, but frankly, the feds seem blind to our real problems and prefer to investigate the Seattle police instead (there is a certain irony here). So Seattle is the perfect petri dish for gangs. I think curing the gang problem will require four things:
1. Strong families, discipline from Mom and Dad
2. Strong churches
3. Government support for strong families and churches and a corresponding vision of good for its cities
4. The rule and enforcement of law
Frankly, I think we are lacking in each of these four areas. Broken families are rampant. Churches are not doing their job, though there is obviously much to preach about. The government actually seems to be weakening families with some of its policies, and finally, gang presence and activity seems to be tolerated. We have a lot to work on.
Good Lord, Eyes, don’t you know any other songs? Your “containment zone” nonsense is as old as the hills and twice as tired.
You want to be in a “containment zone”? Move to Skyway or White Center.
right. strong churches. thats all we need is more brainwashing with pseudo morality by people who believe in a fictional sky paradise. How about community centers? much more valuable and much less brainwashing.
I think engaging kids and teens in meaningful activities, early on, provides ways to fill their time, meet other like-minded peers, find out what they are good at and/or passionate about, and channel their skills in a productive direction so that joining a gang in the first place is not as appealing. Athletics, music, school clubs, community centers, church groups, and many more are all avenues to engage our youth. What does your child’s school offer for its students after school? It was a huge part of keeping me on a positive path as a kid, but extracurricular activities don’t seem to be emphasized very much these days – especially in inner city neighborhoods like the CD.
There’s also a Boys’ & Girls’ Club mere blocks from this MLK/Cherry incident. How about more adults volunteering to be Big Brothers and Big Sisters to our neighborhood youth? Or just helping to get the word out to the community that this is a valuable resource for our kids. All races, all ages, all religions, all interests are supported and nurtured.
We must make our kids/teens feel confident and important, in their own right, so they don’t need to join a gang as a last resort to get this kind of validation.
Boys & Girls Clubs of King County
201 19th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122
Phone: (206) 436-1880
Fax: (206) 324-8315
Website: http://www.rotary.positiveplace.org
Staff
Patrick Carter – Executive Director
Derek Smith – Associate Director
Daryll Hennings – Senior Athletic Director
Aaron Claxton – Assistant Athletic Director
Rick Newell – Program Assistant
Map:
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=47.
smh!!!!! SMH
My heart is with Maggie & her Family. Damn the shooter.
Do we know anything about whether there has been any progress? Do we know what the police are doing?
But it litterally is the containment zone. This is where we rounded up a particular race and stuck them. It is the concentration camp. The reservation. Not quite so obvious without the razor wire, but, it is a social containment zone. Nobody wanted them to get out. Alot of them quit trying.
And then you bought a house on the reservation.
If and when they catch this animal, two words: Death sentence, swift and for justice. Once you start showing animals there is a very true consequence for murder, the gun violence will start to go down.
How can there be such a clear description of the altercation and the shooting, but nothing about what the person looks like, others involved in the argument, etc? I really really feel like the police are letting us down here – going into a stonewall of “no information” leaving us all with nothing. I live in this neighborhood, drive by that corner almost daily, and the police can offer me NOTHING? It feels like a tactic by the police to calm the situation, meaning that in a week’s time, we’ll all be frustrated by the zero information and move along, EXCEPT that we will all live in fear that we could be the next innocent victim. Glad Mike McGinn visited the scene, but I expect our police department and city government to be completely outraged that this could happen. And I really expect the police and our city government to announce quickly and firmly plans to prevent a repeat. I feel so much like this information stonewall is all we are going to get, and our job is to just retreat peacefully (ironic word choice)into our fear. This perpetrator was not an isolated person who just came out firing – he was in an argument with others, in a neighborhood full of people, on a main city street intersection. How can their be no leads, and just a steady pull-back in information from the police? I want to hear from our police and the city government, more every day, encouraging words of plans to track down this killler, plans to make this area safer, plans and actions. Instead, we are getting NOTHING.
We used to have a bird feeder. It was nice. One day I saw rats under it. Knowing that if rats settle in, it wont be long before they get into the house. So I set a trap out and caught a rat.
Next day their was still rats under the bird feeder and some were climbing the burning bush (red leaves) to get right to the source. So I put out 5 traps and I caught five rats. I had to get better traps as they figured out the wire ones. A few days later their was a really big fat rat under the trap – all of this in broad daylight. I poisened her.
Days and weeks went by and still more rats! There are thousands upon thousands of rats because of my bird feeder and a certain group of people who actually intentionally feed the rats on our street corners.
So, I got rid of the bird feeder. The rats are still all over the neighborhood but at least not spending alot of time in my yard.
Since the killer was seen running up East Columbia towards 30th,
is it possible he tossed the gun on the way? A few places to look,
Nora’s Woods, the lot with the tall grass between Columbia and Cherry, if his escape route was the alley next to the YWCA.
The police typically don’t release information during an ongoing investigation to avoid tipping off the suspect.
Also i am willing to bet that the lack of information has more to do with the “stop snitchin” code.
That has been SPD motto for years! nobody is cooperating, is code for we aint looking that hard! Seattle is known across this great country for SNITCHING. Let the SPD work, they know who it is and where he is. Sometimes justice is not swift, but fair. Its takes time to get these things solved, you guys watch to much TV.
Hi all. I grew up in Seattle and went to Garfield in the ’80s. Now I live here in the neighborhood. In these posts there is a lot of anger, sadness, fear, but also a tremendous amount of caring and compassion. This all seems very normal given how shocking this event was for the entire neighborhood.It shows how close the neighborhood really is. That we are engaging in open communication, airing feelings, doing our best to try and cope and understand what just happened is good and true.
I think it’s important to acknowledge that the two men who committed this crime have serious mental problems and are out of touch with reality. This is an extremely serious matter. It is up to us, as neighbors, parents and friends, to protect ourselves and our neighborhood, but also to stop these young men from engaging in more senseless violence–for them, not just us. It is not good for them to commit these crimes. It is not compassionate to them to allow them to continue this behavior. To protect them with silence is to hurt them. So I ask, please do the right thing. Protect these men from themselves, protect yourself, and protect the community. Turn them in, stop them. It is the right thing to do for everyone.
I know the family. I live in the neighborhood. I think things are geetting worse and not better. And I have lived in Seattle since birth in 1969. I am sad that this has so quickly turned into a race thing. The only race issue I see is that this incident did not receive the coverage that it should have. This is horrible and, for me, hits very close to home. I hope we don’t have to get any further down into the bedrock before we can turn this around.
foul language
it has been my Experience that those “family homes” are only that because an older generation bought them
By working hard, saving, and fighting for what they had. They are only “family homes”
In most cases because the children never stopped living off their mom and dad or grandparents. Now they are
Waiting for that inheritance (times are tough. ;(
That older generation was a completely different class of people. This isnt limited
By race, we as Americans have all fallen into a view of entitlement where
Some kid dressed like a circus clown will talk about their families accomplishments
In the first person but is above ahooks fashioned “work”. No one should be proud to live
in a violent area, you should be Proud that you worked for change. You can start
by trying to dress, act, and speak Differently than those that desired to be labeled as the
Problem. Where do you want to “fit in”?
Please call Detective Russ Weklych at the SPD homicide unit, 206-684-5567. Thank you for your help.
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