On Saturday, June 17, around 300 people gathered at 11 a.m. on Fourth Avenue and Lenora Street, Seattle, with signs to protest the fatal shooting of a Korean American woman. According to the Seattle Times, The March to Take Back the City.
Four days earlier, Eina Kwon (34) and her husband (37) were on their way to work when Kwon was fatally killed at this same corner at just about this time. The couple were stopped and shot multiple times in an apparently unprovoked attack. Kwon was immediately rushed to the hospital but lost her life on the way. Having been eight months pregnant, her unborn child also died following the incident. Her husband suffered injuries from being shot four times in the arm.
The Seattle Times reports that the police apprehended Cordell Maurice Goosby, a 30-year-old man who ran away after disposing of a gun. Police said the suspect had testified that he shot because he thought he saw a gun in the couple’s car, but footage from cameras in the area show the suspect running up to the driver’s side of the car as it was stopped at a light despite “no interaction between the victims and the suspect in the preceding block, prior to the incident.”
On Friday, Goosby, was charged with first-degree murder with and a first-degree attempted murder with a firearm enhancement. He is currently being held in King County Jail, Seattle, WA.
ABC News reports that Kwon’s death marked the 29th homicide investigated by Seattle police so far this year and the 4th shooting in just that week. Seattle police investigated 55 killings last year, up from 41 the year before that.
Angered by the increase in unprompted murders in their community, people gathered with signs to protest this persisting issue.
Susanna Keilman, a Korean American, shared through NBC News that she messaged around 30 others in what she describes as her Asian American Pacific Islander community.
“We were texting that we have to do something. This isn’t right. We have to be loud and make some kind of statement, some kind of peaceful gathering,” she said. “The Korean community and much of the AAPI has been discouraged from the whole cancel culture movement, and as a result, have been really scared and afraid to speak up against crime … You certainly can’t ignore the fact that she was a Korean-American female. When someone is intentionally injured in specific areas, there’s nothing random about that. So it’s very discouraging when you hear these words that are trying to almost soften the type of crime by saying it was random.”
Others, in agreement, stood under the drizzle that morning to show their disapproval:
“We’re done with the violence against women, the misbehavior in the streets. We’re done with the public crime. The public isn’t going to accept it anymore,” Tom Graff, the president of a real estate company and a friend of Kwon, told NBC News.
My Northwest brings out that the march’s goal was to raise awareness to the failure of policymakers to create laws that protect the community, including the city’s failure to pass a drug ordinance.
Signs were held up, saying, “Andrew Lewis: How many have to die?”
In a 5-4 vote on June 6, the Seattle City Council rejected a bill that would have given the city attorney the authority to prosecute drug possession and public drug use cases. Council member Andrew Lewis had been the swing vote.
Police have not said whether the suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time of the shooting, but the alley behind the CVS where Kwon was shot was allegedly used to do drugs.
Keilman urged the gathered crowd to sign a list with their contact information “to stay involved.” Seattle policemen showed up to show their support and talked about making sure the Kwon family gets the support it needs, according to The Seattle Times.
On Friday, police in the area announced a new task force of 50 officers who will focus their efforts in specific zones where gun violence has become widespread.
Gradually, members of Kwon’s community are witnessing the improvements that are being made for the safety of the people, and the impact anyone can have in this movement.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified ath intersection when the killing occurred).
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Lenora Street