SEATTLE — Saturday brought another familiar, yet saddening, story to the Chinatown International District—after a shooting in the early hours of the morning left five people hurt.
Four people were shot near a hookah lounge on South Lane Street, and another on 4th Avenue South.
“Unfortunately, I’ve become a little numb to it,” said Cameron Shenoy. “It’s not like I don’t care about it, but you’re just like, ‘Oh another one happened’, you just become glazed to it.”
Shenoy is a manager at Table Top Village, a community center for card game players and families. They’ve tried to make it a place for families in particular, though game players of all ages can stay throughout the night. Bullets flew through their windows and into their walls back in August - just one of several incidents in the surrounding blocks that have led them to implement a curfew for people who come in.
“We do what we can to protect our people and our customers and our community, but it’s not like we can do much... It’s just be smart essentially, make smart decisions,” Shenoy said.
Seattle police found several bullet casings in and around the hookah lounge when they arrived Saturday morning. SPD responded around 3:48 a.m. and the lounge’s hours on Google are listed as open until 4 a.m. George Engelstad, a bartender at a neighboring business, says the lounge always has attracted unsavory scenes and other violence.
“We keep coming back the next day and hearing about stuff,” Engelstad said, “All the coverage is all about violence and nothing is being done or getting fixed.”
A cursory review of the violent incidents that have been reported since TapleTop Village’s window had bullets pierce them found 13 people injured in shootings and 10 hurt in stabbings. Shenoy has seen surveillance camera footage of previous incidents on Lane Street.
“It’s intense shootouts happening sometimes, like not one or two bullets flying, it’s like whole clips unloaded sometimes,” he recalled, “Whenever we do call the cops for things they come prepared, they are as ready as they can be, it’s pretty intense when they come too.”
Engelstad has hoped the lounge will be shut down because of the safety concerns.
“If I know what the problem is, if everyone around here knows what the problem is, then why isn’t the problem being addressed?” he questioned.
Shenoy has seen saturation patrols of police work in other areas of downtown be successful, so he wishes for something similar to come to the CID. As Tammy Morales, who represented the district, has resigned, they hope the next leader chosen will pay more attention to making their neighborhood feel safe.
“We want to create a great environment, we want to create a great community. It’s hard and we wish these people would get to see it and maybe they would actually care if they actually saw it and were a part of it,” he added.
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