Editorial: Taking a moment to reflect on violence

The losses are severe. The story leaves you scratching your head, wondering what things are coming to these days.

Still healing wounds from the Halloween night murder of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, Seattle and the rest of the Puget Sound was stunned Sunday to hear that four Lakewood police officers were also viciously targeted and murdered just for the badges they wore.

The region is rarely mentioned in national media for violent crime or other disasters. This week, though, headlines nationwide will tell a story about our home—one that’s hard to comprehend.

Is this really Western Washington?

Four public servants lost. A fledgling police force scarred.

Four families robbed of a life. Nine children without a father or mother.

A coffee shop transformed into the site of a bloodbath. Two young baristas with memories no one should have.

Police who feel threatened while in uniform. People who feel targeted for the color of their skin.

A manhunt that jumped around, disturbing greater Seattle. People helping an alleged killer escape.

Citizens calling in tips. Others tweeting and following a story with prayers or fingers crossed.

Warrants going unenforced because of sloppy paperwork and miscommunication in two states. A booking bail system that puts crooks on the streets without seeing a judge.

A now-haunting clemency from prominent Republican Mike Huckabee. A convincing appeal from a man who promised he had changed.

Hate for police. Hate for those who hate police.

Neighborhoods shaken. Communities damaged but brought together, reminded why people need each other.

A man who needed mental help and/or more time in prison—now a man shot dead, with his family members torn apart, and some perhaps soon behind bars.

In the midst of all of this, along with a string of other violent crimes, is Seattle University. 

Even in our tight-knit and sometimes isolated community, this crime and others like it impact us.

Our own underappreciated protectors in Public Safety, who face risks just as police do, can’t help but be shaken. As Public Safety Director Mike Sletten said, “we’re like the best of, if you will, next door neighbors” with Seattle Police. Timothy Brenton, an officer with the East Precinct, responded to calls at the university before he was murdered Oct. 31, Sletten says.

It is clear that many things that should have gone right in the case of Maurice Clemmons went wrong.

Everyone now carries the burden of what has happened over the past month. That burden has the potential to numb our society further against violence or to unite us against it.

We hope for the latter.

2 comments

Gaia Thomas

Fri Jan 15 2010 14:54

Thank you for this poetic appeal. Such direct words and candid reflections are needed at a time like this.

Your name

Fri Dec 4 2009 09:35

A good editorial. But you used the term "clemency". Dealing with 1200 requests per year, Gov. Huckabee COMMUTED the 100+ year sentence of this (16-years-old when convicted) Maurice Clemmons to 47 years, and only on the unanimous recommendation of the 5-person Arkansas Parole Board, and also that of the presiding trial Judge TO do so. THEY were wrong, at least in hindsight, which is always perfect, and just as responsible. BUT, this mass-murderer was released to kill by 2 judges in Washington State, NOT in Arkansas. So the blame lies here, and many years later. Let's clean up the Washington judiciary, as well as those other problems that you so rightly target.

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