homicide seattle style

after a few lowkey days in montana (and another delayed flight) i touched down at good ole seatac today for a 3-wk stint before heading back to chicago and prepping for my 'autumn in asia' super tour. the main reason why im back is to host my friend from seoul, since this is the place im best able to provide a snapshot of american life.

like so much of asia and europa, korea is a land without guns. so what does my lil ambassador see on his first day in gods country (in addition to flying fish at pike place market)? barricaded streets and police choppers downtown thanks to a multiple shooting at the jewish federation. so far ive heard there are 6 casualties with possibly one death. all made more eerie by the anti-israeli bombing of lebanon performance art happening simultaneously at westlake center. it kinda felt like the world was coming to an end.

its been an especially violent year for a town whose annual homicide tallies are dwarfed by other us cities. preliminary fbi crime stats claim 25 murders in seattle last year. compare this to 195 in dc and 136 in memphis, cities of comparable size (nyc led the nation with 539 homicides in 2005). as of our publishing date, there have been 18 hits this year, which doesnt include the '9 dead in 9 days' homicide spree outside city limits just last month. despite low murder rates, seattle can boast two of the nations top three serial killers: gary 'green river killer' ridgway tops the charts with 48 admitted homicides and ted 'i like brunettes' bundy with 30 confessed murders. perhaps murder may soon accompany two other unfortunate consequences of living at the 47th parallel: high incidents of depression and an inexplicable preponderance of multiple sclerosis.