Combating crime in south King County
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Just this past weekend, a man died after being shot in the head in Renton. Another man involved was shot in both legs and was taken to the hospital. That comes just a couple of weeks after three shootings claimed lives in a span of just 24 hours.
One man was shot and killed in Rainier Valley and had locals talking about changing their daily routines.
On Monday night, Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer presented its annual crime report to the City Council. He says crime is up in almost every category, including assaults and homicides. Kimerer also adds that he’s heard the same from other police chiefs across south King County.
“Yesterday I had to go to the funeral home and I had to look at boxes I could possibly put my child in,” said gun violence victim Lonnie Gennings.
That was the heartbreaking reality for Gennings whose 16-year-old son, Wesley, was killed in a robbery in Federal Way in February 2016. His mentor was youth case manager Evan Cook.
“The week before he was killed, he was telling me all about his dreams, his goals and then his life is taken,” said Multi-Service Center youth case manager Evan Cook.
The violence continues across south King County.
Kimerer says overall crime is up and part of it can be blamed on the heroin epidemic and gangs.
“There has been an increase in gang activity. I think all of south King County has seen that. We’ve had a number of shootings that have been gang-related,” said Kimerer.
Kimerer added that violent crime jumped 11% last year and aggravated assaults were up 33%. He’s putting together a team called “Pro-Active” to tackle the bad trends.
“The crime issues but also the kind of social issues that are out there because we’re never going to arrest our way out of some of these issues,” said Kimerer.
That’s where Federal Way’s Multi-Service Center steps in. It’s an organization providing a variety of community needs like a place for kids to go outside of the street life. Cook says it’s just one piece of the puzzle to solve the violence.
“There was a string of three random murders. This isn’t Federal Way. This isn’t this type of community. So parents, community members, coaches, students they came together and formed the Federal Way Youth Action Team,” said Cook.
So the responsibility isn’t just on south King County law enforcement, but the community, too. Every time police lights show up, sirens go off, and crime scene tape surrounds a scene, Cook says it’s a reality check for kids at-risk of falling off track.
“It’s like wait … that was my friend. And now it’s going to hit me a little bit differently and I’m going to be affected. Now I don’t like it. Now I can’t stand violence and now I want justice,” said Cook.
Kimerer says his officers are all assigned to a Next Door page that matches a neighborhood within Burien. He says the department has hired Spanish-speaking officers and will hire more diversity in the force to match its citizens so they can better reach all communities.
Through a city initiative, Federal Way launched a youth violence coalition with input from hundreds of city residents. The coalition submitted its recommendations to the City Council on how to tackle violence.