2021 Q1 Shots Fired Report: Addressing the Increase in Violence

This graph shows the number of shootings reported in January through March of 2021 across King County. It was created as part of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Shots Fired project that takes a public health approach to gun violence. (KCPAO)

In the first three months of 2021, there were 16 homicide victims across King County, another 53 non-fatal shooting victims and 253 total shots fired incidents.

“It’s not just a King County issue, it’s a national trend across America’s largest cities where we’ve seen a murder rate increase of about 38 percent,” King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg told KIRO Radio.

Our office launched the Shots Fired project in 2017 to take a public health approach to gun violence — and through data analysis and our expanding community partnerships we are working to understand which individuals and communities are at highest risk, and utilize both prevention and intervention approaches to keep King County residents safe.

The 39 law enforcement agencies in King County collect the data and share it with us. We put together a quarterly analysis, and the Q1 gun crimes report for 2021 is available here. Follow this link to find King County shooting statistics for all of 2020.

“We know that it is concentrated on young people,” Satterberg told KNKX. “Forty-two percent of people shot were 24 or under, 70 percent were people of color and 80 percent were young men.”

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is working with Choose 180 on a project — “Choose Freedom” — that uses our Shots Fired data to prioritize community engagement with those most at risk of firearm violence. Our office is also a participant in the King County Regional Approach to Gun Violence which is being led by Seattle-King County Public Health/Zero Youth Detention.

We also recently supported a $2 million gun violence prevention grant program through King County Council to fund community-based violence interruption work.

Additional coverage of the Shots Fired project and the efforts to reduce gun violence is below. Follow this link to see details on each of the murder cases filed in 2021.

Gun violence on the rise in King County

KIRO Radio (Hanna Scott): 2020 gun violence spike in King County has continued, warns prosecutor

Kent Reporter/Reporter Newspapers (Steve Hunter): King County gun violence keeps soaring in 2021

KNKX (Paula Wissel): ‘Public health crisis’: Gun violence, homicides on rise in King County

KOMO (Jonathan Choe): King County’s surge in gun violence linked to COVID crisis, some civic activists say

Q13 Fox (Steve Kiggins): King County Prosecutor reveals homicides, shootings continue to increase