Seattle audit shows alarming increase in gun violence post-pandemic
Mar 27, 2025, 4:00 PM | Updated: 6:46 pm
Officers involved in a narcotics operation arrested eight suspects, seized two guns, and confiscated more than 130 grams of narcotics. It's part of the problems with gun violence as uncovered in a Seattle audit. (Photo from the Seattle Police Department)
(Photo from the Seattle Police Department)
The city of Seattle now has a better understanding of gun violence on the streets of the city.
Thursday morning, the Seattle Auditor’s Office released the results of an audit that sought to track gun violence patterns and offer recommendations going forward. The audit was conducted after a request from Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson.
It studied gun violence patterns in Seattle and found a “significant, sustained post-pandemic increase in shootings.”
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The audit found that between 2013 and 2024, reports of shots fired increased by 194%. Non-fatal injuries were up 150%, and fatal shooting up 220%.
“Cooperation between departments, between agencies, that absolutely needs to happen because it ain鈥檛 just a police issue,” Seattle City Council member Mark Solomon said. “It ain鈥檛 just a parks issue. It ain鈥檛 just an SDOT issue or a City Light issue. It鈥檚 a Seattle issue.”
The report also offered recommendations: first, the use of analysis and an all-hands-on-deck approach to address gun violence and the adoption of a systematic framework for reporting gun violence patterns.
“Seattle does not have a framework for coming together as city agencies and partners,” Seattle Director of Research and Evaluation Dr. Claudia Gross Shader said. “So, what鈥檚 missing is systematic information sharing.”
The complete report will be presented to the Seattle City Council’s Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee sometime this afternoon.
