It’s a horrifying story out of Seattle, Washington after gunfire erupted near an elementary school day care center. Thankfully, no children were hurt, but a 47-year-old man was shot and taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Deborah Coleman, one of the co-owners of the A 4 Apple Learning Center, told KOMO News that they were simply there “to do our job and do good quality care for our families,” but got much more than they bargained for when multiple shots went off right outside their building.
Fortunately, about 24 kids were inside the daycare when the shooting occurred and the children army crawled into the bathroom.
The co-owners are concerned that since their learning center is located in Seattle’s Central District, they don’t feel supported by the city.
A spokesperson with the mayor sent a statement in response to the shooting:
Mayor (Bruce) Harrell believes every community deserves to feel safe and be safe, and this shooting is both scary and tragic for impacted residents and our broader Seattle community. After inheriting a historic SPD staffing low, Mayor Harrell has made it a priority to drive meaningful improvements in both officer recruitment and retention efforts to keep and attract applicants who share the values of the city and reflect the diversity of its communities. Mayor Harrell’s budget proposal makes critical investments in reducing gun violence, which requires a holistic approach including thorough investigations, community-based programs, new technologies, and upstream solutions. Mayor Harrell will continue to pursue policy changes to reduce gun violence at the state legislative level, as the City is prohibited from setting our gun laws due to state preemption.
In response to the shooting, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant doesn’t believe police resources should be increased in the area.
The daycare owner has called out Sawant, who represents the area where the shooting took place.
“Show your face because your presence is needed to support us. Who is [Sawant]? I’ve reached out to [her office] for two years. Nothing, they never support anything that people of color do in this community,” said Appollonia Washington, the co-owner of A 4 Apple Learning.
But, Sawant is a defund the police advocate and said she would not support an increase in police resources.
“No, I am in solidarity with all small business owners, but the facts are that bloating the police department does not work,” Sawant said. “My message to them is that increasing funding to police is not going to help them, you know why? Because that is the strategy that has been tried for a decade and a half. Police have got more and more money. This whole idea that ‘police got defunded’, no it did not, unfortunately.”
The police did set up a mobile precinct outside of the daycare when it reopened.
“Around our day cares, around our school, if we can’t keep that safe then we really have a problem,” Police Chief Adrian Diaz said. “Literally having kids crawl to safety — that’s just horrible. We are going to make sure that day care feels it has the resources it needs to be safe.”
“Where is the city council representative who represents this district?”
I found her. @cmkshama answered my questions about calls from the Central District to add police resources after a daytime shooting sent bullets into a daycare. STORY: https://t.co/HG149vk32F @komonews pic.twitter.com/UyNZj6l5kK
— Jeremy Harris (@JeremyHarrisTV) October 20, 2023
