Crime along the Pike and Pine corridor has been an ongoing issue that the City of Seattle has tried to address. Seattle City Council member Lisa Herbold chairs the Public Safety and Human Services Committee, and she says this subject remains a priority.
The concerns about public safety in downtown Seattle have escalated, following last week's fatal shooting on Third Avenue.
"We would like to see folks that are prolific, repeat offenders with open warrants taken off the street and held accountable for their actions. We need to see laws enforced," said Sabrina Villanueva, a property manager in downtown.
Villanueva joined other downtown business owners at a gathering last Friday at Westlake Park, a block away from where the shooting occurred.
Residents of downtown also joined, and a group of students from The Northwest School in the First Hill neighborhood walked downtown to attend the rally. Among them was Sy'Naeh Shell, a senior at The Northwest School. She said she expected the gathering on Friday to address gun control, but she was disappointed in the way the conversation about what led to the shooting is taking shape.
"It was like the shooting happened because of where it was, and it was positioned as a Third Avenue problem and not really as an issue with gun legislation and different things," Shell said.
She said she would like to see the people who are affected by crime in downtown, including people experiencing homelessness and those who are on that stretch of downtown every day, included in the city's conversations about how to address the issues in the Pike and Pine corridor.
Villanueva and others who gathered at Westlake Park said they plan to attend Tuesday's public safety committee meeting at City Hall. At a separate meeting Tuesday, King County Council also is expected to hear a report from the sheriff's office about its efforts on reducing gang participation and violence.
The shooting killed one and injured seven others. A woman who died at the scene has been identified as 50-year-old Tanya Jackson. She was a long-term resident at a Plymouth Housing building, a nonprofit that operates housing units for those who are experiencing homelessness.
Two patients who were injured in a shooting last week in downtown Seattle remain at Harborview Medical Center. A 32-year-old male is in satisfactory condition, and a 55-year-old female remains in serious condition. A 9-year-old boy who was injured in the shooting was released Friday.
Authorities are still looking for two men suspected of being involved in the fatal shooting: 24-year-old Marquise Latrelle Tolbert and 24-year-old William Ray Tolliver. The men — who are reportedly 200 pounds and 145 pounds, respectively — are considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who has seen them or knows their whereabouts are urged to call 911.
