"Seattle strained by rare wave of gun violence; Surge occurs as police practices are debated" by Kirk Johnson | New York Times, June 03, 2012
SEATTLE - The worst surge of gun violence in years, culminating last week in six deaths over the course of an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday, has deeply stressed this city, where many neighborhoods normally feel as safe as living rooms.
The timing of the crime wave is almost as jarring. It comes in the middle of a complex political dance between the city and the Department of Justice over how the Seattle Police Department should change its practices after a series of high-profile incidents that showed what federal investigators called “a pattern or practice of excessive force.’’
With the killings last week - four in a coffee shop and another across town in a carjacking by the same man, who later shot himself when surrounded by the police - the number of homicides in just five months in Seattle reached 21, as many as in all of last year.
Ever notice they always shoot themselves?
What connects the dots - in the community debate about overhauling the police department, and now in the sense of vulnerability in a city that usually feels tidy - is a riptide of guns.
It's an old cliche and it gets attacked a lot; however, guns don't kill people, people kill people. Some of the lowest crime rates in the country are in the most heavily-armed areas, and armed citizens can prevent school massacres and the like.
Furthermore, the last thing I want is the state that swats down protesters to be the only one with guns. I've always wondered what the "lefty" is going to say to the "right-wing nutty" when he is in the end protecting him with his gun. Thank you?
In Wednesday’s rampage, a man who had been kicked out of Cafe Racer near the University of Washington campus, denied service because of his erratic behavior, returned with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
Alcohol a factor, cuz if it is.... booze kills, in more ways than one.
“If you look back over the shootings we’ve had this year and the prior year, you can see many of them are related to the belief that it’s OK to carry a gun somewhere to solve a dispute,’’ Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference on Thursday. “We have to look at what we can do to redouble our efforts in this regard.’’
Well, you know, the EUSraeli Empire seems to think that is JUST FINE!
So WHAT DO WE TELL the CHILDREN, 'eh?
Jennifer Keys, 41, a human resources manager who lives near Cafe Racer, was more succinct.
“The neighbors are freaking out,’’ said Keys, who has long been involved in local politics. And with anxieties running so high, she said she expected a blizzard of back and forth about what should happen next on everything from gun control to police patrols. “Some responses are going to be irrational,’’ she said.
Even in the best of times, the police in Seattle, a generally low-crime city, live under something of a bell jar of scrutiny.
Here we go. The poor cops (as long as they are not screaming about collective bargaining rights).
Widespread libertarian sentiments about personal liberty - and a small but vocal anarchist community ready on short notice to throw epithets, or sometimes rocks, at the police - often bump up against expectations of personal safety.
Oh, they have a SMALL COMMUNITY of AGENTS PROVOCATEURS, 'eh?
The police are also tested by an average of 100 to 300 political demonstrations a year.
Yeah, those damn protesters!
Police officials said that efforts used in some other cities to get guns off the street - notably the New York’s Police Department’s “stop, question and frisk’’ program, which gives the police latitude to stop people officers think might be carrying a weapon or other contraband - would simply not be accepted here, despite a record of success as measured in seized weapons....
The federal investigation began last year after an officer shot and killed John T. Williams, a woodcarver who was a member of a First Nations tribe of Canada and a fixture of downtown Seattle’s street scene. Williams, who sometimes drank heavily and was hard of hearing, was shot in August 2010 after refusing to put down his carving knife....
What, no taser?
In interviews last week, some city residents said they were worried that the latest wave of gun violence could lead to a toughening up by police officers - the very antithesis of what federal investigators said the department needed.
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Update:
"Suspect in 4 Seattle deaths shoots self" Associated Press" May 31, 2012
SEATTLE - A gunman who opened fire at a Seattle cafe Wednesday, killing three people, critically wounding two others and setting off a citywide manhunt apparently shot himself as officers closed in on him, authorities said.
His condition was not immediately known.
In their seartch, police also had to respond to another fatal
shooting near the city’s downtown. They say a man killed a woman in an
apparent carjacking and fled in a black SUV.
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