At least 69 people were killed in homicides in Seattle last year, matching the highs from 1994 and 1969, according to records compiled by the Seattle Times.
Those 69 killings constitute almost half of the 141 homicides recorded in King County in 2023, according to the paper. More than three-quarters of the victims died of gunshot wounds.
A decade ago, in 2014, King County recorded only 54 homicides.
Homicides have been on the rise for years in the far-left city, but they spiked during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. A record number of police officers fled the Seattle force amid the anti-police sentiment in 2020 and 2021, when city leaders blamed the cops for being instigators of the racial-justice riots that enveloped in the city after George Floyd’s killing.
While homicide levels have begun to level off nationally, that has not been the case in Seattle. Authorities have called the record number of killings “concerning.”
John Castleton, who co-leads a team of senior deputy prosecutors, told the Times that they are “befuddled” as to why homicides haven’t leveled off in Seattle and in King County.
Seattle police officially are putting their 2023 homicide number at 73, including four cases the Times didn’t include in its tally. The police tally includes the discovery of a human skull and the delayed deaths of two men — one was shot in 2021, and another was stabbed in 2022.
The police tally also includes the killing of an unborn baby whose mother was shot and killed last year. Notably, the Times did not include the death of the unborn baby in its homicide total.
The increasing number of homicides in Seattle and King County mirrors trends statewide. According to a Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs report released in July, there were 394 murders statewide in 2022, a nearly 17 percent increase over 2021. The 394 murders was the highest number recorded since the association began keeping records in 1980.
A report last year found that Seattle topped U.S. cities with the highest percentage of adult residents who have “felt pressure” to leave due to the soaring cost of living and skyrocketing crime rates.