It’s happening in our neighborhoods and on our freeways: rampant gun violence in King County. It prompted King County Executive Dow Constantine to recognize gun violence as a public health emergency in 2021.
But now, the county seems to be turning a corner, with new data showing a decline in the violence for the first time since 2018.
On Thursday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office released a 2024 Gun Violence Report.
The report shows homicides by firearms down nearly 30% in 2024. With 107 firearm homicide victims in 2023, down to 75 firearm homicide victims in 2024.
Non-fatal shootings also decreased, along with overall shootings in the county. There were 1701 reported ‘shots fired incidents’ in 2023. That number reduced to 1591 in 2024.
“It’s very encouraging to see that we’ve kind of broken this fever pitch of gun violence that really ratcheted up in the pandemic and in the years that followed,” says Douglas Wagoner with the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
Wagoner underscores that gun violence, while decreasing, is not felt equally across King County. Shooting victims are disproportionately male (82%), and people of color (76%).
“There’s obviously a lot of work that remains to be done,” says Wagoner.
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