by M. Anthony Davis
The City of Seattle hosted a press conference on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 31, in response to six shootings over the weekend. City leaders, including Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz, City Councilmember Alex Pedersen, and Rex Brown of the City of Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) were present.
Diaz spoke on many of the recent shootings, including an incident where a man was shot and killed Tuesday morning in Capitol Hill during an alleged attempted robbery. According to Diaz, there have been 100 more shootings in the city compared to this time of year in 2020, and 150 more compared to 2019.
Instead of using those statistics to argue for new creative solutions to keep communities safe, however, Diaz and Pedersen used the upticks in gun violence to advocate for more Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers.
“To address the serious spike in gun violence, I believe our City Council needs to partner with both our police department and community nonprofits, for a multipronged response with effective violence prevention programs,” Pedersen said.
Continue reading OPINION: City Response to Gun Violence Spike Lacks Compassion, New Ideas