Edouard Motley and Birk Isabel III—both affiliated with the Central District-based Deuce 8 gang—both pleaded guilty earlier today to shooting Monroe Ezell, a member of the South Seattle 74 Hoover Crips

More here.

It all began at a huge party with over 100 people at a residence near MLK Jr. Way and S. Hudson St., a couple blocks south of the Columbia City light rail station. Several fights had already started in the area, and police mobilized to handle the anticipated trouble.

One 15-year-old partygoer heard a disturbance outside around 11:30 p.m. and went to the front window of the house too observe. Small arms fire started and he was shot in the shin. Residents of the house called 911 to report that shots had been fired into the house.

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The sweeping criminal conspiracy case against alleged members of the Hilltop Crips street gang withstood assaults from the defendants’ attorneys Thursday.

Defense attorneys had asked Pierce County Superior Court Judge Thomas Felnagle to dismiss the conspiracy charge – the crux of the case against the remaining two dozen suspected gang members.

Felnagle declined to do that but scheduled another hearing for May 21, during which prosecutors and defense attorneys again will argue over the validity of the charge.

Each of the 25 defendants is charged with conspiracy to commit 13 crimes. Most also are charged with a range of other crimes.

Defense attorneys have requested more specifics on the conspiracy allegation and during Thursday’s hearing told Felnagle they haven’t gotten them.

“We are still wondering what our individual clients did,” said Robert Quillian, who is representing Bryant Morgan. “This type of umbrella theory simply cannot stand the scrutiny of fairness.”

Defense attorneys also contended the prosecution’s conspiracy theory is not legal.

Deputy prosecutor Greg Greer argued the state has been providing the defense attorneys with information.

He had just bought some cleats at Walmart to get ready to play football.

Just minutes later he ran back, bleeding from a gunshot wound, near death. He made it just to the front of the store, where he collapsed and died, despite the efforts of two passersby to help him.

A half block away, a 27-year-old man lay bleeding, in critical condition. His condition is not available under privacy rules.

Both were hit by gunfire as violent group argued and opened fire in the parking lot of the Cedar Village Apartments on South 129th Street.

More than 20 rounds were fired. A stray bullet hit Alajawan as he walked up South 129th Street toward home.

Wednesday night, the Skyway community came together in a prayer vigil where Alajawan died to remember him.

Alajawan’s murder – his death was ruled a homicide by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office – has saddened and angered those who knew him well and even strangers, who all wonder why a young child could die so violently in a residential neighborhood.

Alajawan was buying the cleats with the $20 his 16-year-old brother Louis had paid him to clean the kitchen.

“He was coming home. He got caught in the crossfire,” said Louis. “He didn’t know he was hit.”…more

The co-chairs of the new Initiative are former Mayor Norm Rice, former deputy mayor Bob Watt and Estela Ortega, associate director at El Centro de la Raza.

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“I’m here because I raise kids in this city, and they don’t feel safe,” said one woman who attended with her neighbor.  Both women said youth violence, safety and opportunities were their top concerns.

“I want to know what the guy [Mayor McGinn] is actually going to do,” said one man who identified himself as “Gary”.  “He talks a whole lot of stuff, but I want to know, when he is done hearing from all of us, is he going to put the city’s money where its mouth is, or leave these kids out to dry?”

Dozens of parents neighbors, volunteers crammed into a small room prepared to begin the discussion.

The co-chairs of the new initiative are former mayor Norm Rice, former deputy mayor Bob Watt and Estela Ortega, executive director at El Centro de la Raza and were on hand to lead the meeting.

So, what is the meat of the initiative?  Here’s what the Mayor had to say:

“Our goal with the Youth and Families Initiative is to get input from everyone in Seattle who cares about these issues,” said Mayor’s Office Community Engagement Coordinator Sol Villarreal. “We realize that not everyone is going to be interested in attending or able to attend one of the large group workshops, so in order to make sure we’re hearing from a representative sample of the population of the city, we’re also going to be holding up to 100 Community Caucuses around the city. The idea is that instead of asking someone to come to us, we’re going to go to them to make sure that their voice gets heard.”

Timeline:

Large Group Workshops:

March 1 � Northgate Elementary School 7:00-8:30 p.m.
March 8 � Van Asselt Elementary School 7:00-8:30 p.m.
March 15 � Denny Middle School 7:00-8:30 p.m.
March 22 � Garfield Community Center 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Community Caucuses March 22- May 2010

Community Causes are intended to reach communities, organizations and people who are unable or disinclined to attend large public meetings. They are also intended to focus conversations around community and neighborhood specific issues.  Like the Workshop small groups, each caucus will be provided a facilitator and note taker as well as a translator if one is required.

Each Community Caucus will elect one delegate to send on to the Kids and Families Congress on June 5 at Seattle Center.

Kids and Families Congress June 5th 2010 Seattle Center

Delegates from workshops and caucuses, city staff, school district staff and representatives of the business community, foundations and legislators will be invited to attend and participate.

Action Planning Groups September-December 2010

Teams composed of delegates, city staff, experts, and legislators will be formed to develop action plans for priority issues that emerge from the Congress.  Action plans will include priorities for city spending and the Families and Education Levy.  Action plans will outline and strengthen partnerships among the city, Seattle Public Schools, Community Based Organizations, foundations, businesses and elected officials at all levels.

The next meeting is scheduled for March 1st at Northgate Elementary

Another suspected member of the Hilltop Crips pleaded not guilty Thursday to a variety of charges stemming from a law enforcement effort aimed at crippling the Tacoma street gang.

Cory T. Campbell, 22, is charged with criminal conspiracy, drive-by shooting, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and three counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. He was ordered jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.

Pierce County prosecutors allege in court documents that Campbell took part in a drive-by shooting that targeted members of a rival gang in September 2009 and also sold drugs to a police informant three times in September and October of last year.

Authorities believe Campbell and other suspected members of the gang conspired to commit dozens of crimes over the past 18 months.

Last week, the South Sound Gang Task Force served search warrants at multiple locations, and prosecutors charged 32 men with taking part in the conspiracy and committing other crimes. More…

”

Jamala Henderson
06/02/2009

Gang and youth violence is a growing concern in the city of Seattle. And there are different approaches to fighting it. Some look at violence as a problem to be solved. But there’s one model that treats violence as a threat to public health. A few Seattle Schools are teaching that to their kids, through a program offered by the YMCA.

The sound of the bell signals freedom for the middle school students at Seattle’s Aki Kurose Middle school. There’s only a few minutes between classes. But that’s just enough time for Eleuthra Lisch to greet kids in the hallway and recruit kids into her program.

Lisch: “Are you committed to eliminating violence? Let’s not be late to class people! Fabulous decisions let’s see it in action, fabulousness!”

Lisch is the director of a program called Alive and Free. It’s a health class at Aki Kurose. And the kids who take the class are given a nick name: Street Soldiers.”

Read the rest, or listen to the stort here.

More info in this anti-violence program is in the download section on the bottom of the site, just scroll down to access it.

I remember that morning well.  By the time I’d gotten to work I had emails and voice messages asking me if I knew about a young man named Tyrone Love.

I didn’t know him when he was alive, but the aftermath of his murder has changed me nevertheless.

The overwhelming shock, grief and pain that blanketed the city was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.  It just seemed like everyone knew who this young man was, and no one had a negative thing to say about him; all agreed he embodied his surname- Love.

No one could understand why anyone would ever want to hurt Tyrone because he was as non-violent as a person could be.

I watched the news of his death reverberate from the north end, to the south end, beyond city limits and state lines in a unifying thread of sorrow and I did the only thing I could- I wrote about it.

Prior to that I’d become numb to the realities of violence in our city, particularly gun, gang and youth violence.  I was concerned, but not as much as I should have been.  I was knowledgeable on the issues, but not nearly as much as I should have been.  Tyrone changed that.

A year later, Tyrone’s murderer is still at large.  Besides rumors and misinformation, police have nothing solid to lead them to a suspect.  Many in the community thought there would be so much outrage, someone would have to come forward- but no one has.

It’s discouraging for his friends, and especially his family.  We think crime is solved in real life as easily as it’s solved in an hour television show- but that’s not the case.  Detectives have told Tyrone’s mother “no one saw anything.”  Or at least, no one is talking.

That is what is most upsetting for his mother Roberta and his sister Gwen.  I sat down with both of them last year.  They welcomed me into their home to talk about their son, brother, friend and father figure, and the havoc cast into their lives because of his death.

“I just sit and think and remember the last time he told me ‘I love you’, he said “Gwennie, I love you,” recalled his sister.

“I got a hug that Valentine’s Day, I got a big hug,” recounts his mother.  “I just wrapped my arms around him and held him and hugged him…didn’t know that would be the last hug I was going to get.”

It was Tyrone’s girlfriend Margarita that discovered he hadn’t come. She awoke to find his side of the bed empty and knew something was wrong.

Their worst fears were confirmed within a few hours.  Margarita recounts, “I was upstairs in his room, and the…I can’t really describe it, the scream…I heard his mom scream, and I ran, I almost fell down the stairs onto his mom.”

A man, dressed in dark clothes stood in the front doorway. “He didn’t belong, you know? He wasn’t a friend of the family, he didn’t look like anybody…he wasn’t supposed to be there.  The memory of Roberta’s scream- a wail of maternal agony- is something Margarita will never forget; “I have dreams about that scream,” she told me.

“All I could say was ‘no, not my son, not my son,’” said Roberta.  “I just couldn’t believe it.  Who would do that to him?”

The “who” and “why” questions hang over Tyrone’s family and friends.  They all feel that someone knows something.

It was through my experiences writing about Tyrone I began to realize we as a community are disconnected emotionally from the impact of death and violence in our neighborhoods.  It’s news.  It’s statistics.  It’s sad and unfortunate, but unless you know the victim, it’s not personal.

At some point along the line, I stopped really caring.  It was hard for me to admit that to myself.  I thought I was concerned, I thought I was outraged even.  But did I care?  No.

Was I really seeing the impact of violence- and not just on a family, but a community? No.

Tyrone gave me fresh eyes and ears.  I started looking at the facts of youth, gun and gang violence, as well as the laws, policies and agencies involved.  I looked to the mainstream media and found that coverage on the issues tended to be one dimensional.

Details on the lives of the victims were so full of sensationalism and stereotypes, we’ve begun to question whether they are victims at all, or whether by lifestyle or social status, they deserved what happened to them.  Shame on us.

With my reinvigorated perspective, I’ve done what any other self respecting internet savvy writer would do: start a website dedicated to examining youth, gun and gang violence in the greater Seattle area.

Young Guns, Stolen Lives (aka The 2010 Project) will cover violent crimes impacting our youth/community, and the investigative and judicial processes while also giving tribute to the lives of those taken.

It will follow and inform the community on the legislation, policies and programs created by grassroots efforts or elected officials on the city, county and state level which impact the safety and well-being of our communities and our children, such as Mayor McGinn’s new Youth and Family Initiative.

My hope is that by providing a place which ties all the variables together we can all begin to better understand violence in our communities.

Last week we saw the horrific video of a 15 year old girl beaten unconscious by another teenager in the Metro Tunnel at Westlake.  While it was shocking, it was reminder that such violence is becoming more commonplace and can occur at anytime, anywhere.

A website can’t stop a bullet.  But what it can do is help us all to refrain from oversimplifying violence in our communities by providing facts and resources and by giving a little context to the lives of those killed.

Barely a day goes by that I don’t think about Tyrone Love and his family.  It’s bitter sweet, but if not for him, I wonder when my perspective would have changed.  Because of him, I have found a way to do my part.  I hope you find a way to do yours.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – Last week’s crackdown on suspected members of the Hilltop Crips street gang has become a headache for Michael Kawamura.

The chief of Pierce County’s Department of Assigned Counsel must find defense lawyers to represent the 32 men charged with a variety of crimes stemming from an 18-month investigation.

All the defendants were declared indigent during their first court appearance. That means they qualify for public defense.

Kawamura said he’s most likely going to need help from outside the county as his staff of more than 60 public defenders might be precluded from representing the men because of potential conflicts of interest.

The trick is finding attorneys who have not represented more than one of the defendants – most of whom already have criminal records – or any witnesses in the case in the past.

More…