Call for more officers after Rainier Beach shootings

SEATTLE — It's a miracle no one was hurt or killed Thursday, when more than 50 rounds were fired on busy Rainier Avenue South.

A Pizza parlor, barber shop and medical marijuana dispensary were all damaged.

On Monday, just a block away, 60 rounds were fired near an apartment building by the same kind of weapons, a rifle and two handguns.

“I don’t know why people feel the need to shoot at each other, and unfortunately they do it in a very haphazard manner,” said Pat Murakami

Murakami is the head of the South Seattle Crime Prevention Council.

“We’re in the Wild West, there’s no sense of propriety anymore or decency,” she said.

She’s glad police have stepped up patrols after the two drive-by shootings, but said the neighborhood needs more than just a patrol emphasis for one or two days.

“We don’t have that many patrol officers in our precinct so they really need to staff us up. This is the beginning of summer. Summer is when our crime increases. If this is a preview of what’s to come, we’re in for big trouble,” Murakami said.

KIRO