Overview
- Roughly 40 shell casings were recovered and multiple buildings and at least one vehicle were struck after a burst of gunfire near Aurora Avenue North and North 98th Street on Saturday.
- Frustrated neighbors placed industrial planters to block residential side streets from the Aurora corridor and refused city requests to remove the barriers.
- The mayor’s office called the violence deeply unsettling and Seattle Police said it increased late-night and early-morning emphasis patrols and deployed the Gun Violence Reduction Unit to the corridor.
- Residents link the surge to prostitution and related pimps or gang activity along Aurora, and surveillance video obtained by local outlets reportedly captured about 15 seconds of rapid gunfire that struck near homes including a near-miss with an infant.
- Neighbors point to past unfulfilled street-closure promises and a decline in deployable SPD officers as reasons they acted, leaving officials debating enforcement authority and longer-term remedies.