Homicide | South Seattle Emerald

by Jack Russillo

Over the first weekend of October, “close to 140 rounds” were fired in multiple incidents across parts of West and South Seattle. A hit-and-run occurred shortly after the biggest shooting, both events left victims dead.

“That isn’t a normal weekend. This is where we have to call upon our community and say that this violence has to stop,” said Seattle Police Department Interim Chief Adrian Diaz in a panel discussion with Converge Media and South Seattle Emerald on October 8. “There are victims in this. The community is traumatized by the rounds that are constantly being fired.”

Continue reading →

by Carolyn Bick

Editor’s Note: This article contains details about a homicide case, including images of evidence and crime scene reconstruction, that readers may find disturbing and/or triggering.

In the weeks following 20-year-old Tommy Le’s death at the hands of King County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Cesar Molina, Xuyen Le still refused to believe her nephew would have attacked the police with anything, much less a knife. She told then-Sheriff John Urquhart as much at a meeting of the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition, which she later described in the process of court proceedings.

“I then told the Sheriff it was our firm belief that, ‘Tommy would never attack the police and certainly not with a knife.’ I politely asked Sheriff Urquhart the most important question to our family and community, ‘Why did the officers shoot Tommy if he was not attacking the officers with a knife – a weapon?’” Xuyen Le’s declaration reads.

Continue reading →