City’s Homicides Likely to Break 30-Year Record

(ProsperNews.net) – Seattle recorded the same number of homicides in 2023 as its record-high year in 1994. A total of 71 murders occurred in the liberal city this year, up from 52 in 2022 and 42 in 2021. Data from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs show that homicides have been in decline in Seattle since 1994 but started to climb again after hitting a low of 16 in 1996 and reaching 33 in 2019.

Public Affairs Officer Shawn Patrick Weismiller has simultaneously claimed that guns are being taken off the city’s streets in record numbers. In 2022, officers confiscated 1,349 firearms, and this year, in October alone, police recovered 108 guns. Campaigners say, however, that violence is still out of control.

Victoria Beach, of the city’s African American Community Advisory Council to Seattle PD, said there is a gun violence “free-for-all” involving gangs of young people who do not value life and “don’t care who they hit.”

In October, officials in King County, which includes Seattle, announced a new Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention. New hubs will be opened in Kent, Burien, and Skyway and will work with federal agencies to obtain additional funding to combat gun violence and locate vulnerable individuals to direct them away from gangs and toward education and job opportunities.

Community Passageways, a group that leads intervention efforts, believes poverty is the primary driver of gun crime. “I boil it down to economics. If I know I’m making good money, I’m not going to go out and shoot anybody,” said CEO Dominique Davis.

President Biden announced a similar federal initiative in September and established the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. A White House statement said Vice President Harris will oversee the project, which will coordinate and distribute federal funding aimed at reducing gun violence across the US. Adviser Stefanie Feldman will serve as Director of the new office, along with long-term gun safety advocates Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox.