King County had its lowest number of shots fired, shots injury and shots homicide incidents in the first quarter of 2025 since the first quarter of 2021.
The number of incidents dropped dramatically in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of 2024, according to the 2025 Quarter 1 King County Quarterly Shots Fired Report released Tuesday, April 29 by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
There were 278 shots fired incidents in the first quarter of 2025, 47 shots injury victims and 13 fatal shootings. In the first quarter of 2024, there were 441 shots fired incidents, 79 shots injury victims and 22 fatal shootings.
That’s a drop of 36% in shots fired, 40% in shots injury victims and 40% in fatal shootings.
The first quarter 2025 numbers are the lowest since 257 shots fired incidents in 2021, 54 shots injury in 2021 and 17 fatal shootings in 2021.
“I hope so,” King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said during an April 29 phone interview when asked if the decline is a trend. “The reason I say that is when we looked at first quarter of 2024 a year ago we saw the first decrease in gun violence since 2018, so the fact we’re seeing an even greater decrease in 2025, that’s two years in a row. That’s significant and it’s encouraging.”
The numbers are compiled by the the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office from data provided to it by the following police agencies:
Auburn, Bellevue, Des Moines, Kent, King County Sheriff’s Office, Lake Forest Park, Renton, Seattle, Tukwila and the Washington State Patrol. The data does not include suicides, confirmed self-inflicted shootings, self-defense or officer-involved shootings.
In the first quarter of 2025, 53% of overall shots fired incidents were in the Seattle area compared to 41% in the south end of the county. That is the first time in recent years that the shots fired in the south end did not surpass the shots fired incidents in the Seattle area during the first quarter.
Seattle had 146 shots fired incidents in first quarter 2025 compared to 187 last year while the south end dropped to 114 from 230.
“It’s probably a lot of little things,” Manion said about the reasons for the decreases. “But one of the primary drivers is we have prosecutors and law enforcement and local government and the nonprofit community working together on a two-prong approach to end gun violence. We know it’s important to intervene and to provide intervention to folks who are close to gun violence but haven’t yet become victims or perpetrators of harm.”
Manion said there’s been a focus on the repeat individuals involved in gun incidents.
“We also have police and prosecutors working together to identify the individuals causing the most harm in our community and interrupting that behavior with the necessary accountability,” Manion said. “I think we are seeing what happens when we focus on a problem in a collaborative way and that we are sharing information to drive down numbers.”
Manion credited the Kent Police Department for its strategies.
“I have to give a shout-out to the Kent Police Department,” she said. “Chief (Rafael) Padilla and his team have really embraced this two-prong approach and they are working closely with some community-based nonprofits to bring intervention to those folks who are close to gun violence but haven’t yet committed crimes or become victims of harm.”
Shooting victim demographics
Of the 60 shooting victims in quarter one, 50% were identified as Black or African American and 87% were identified as male, according to the report. A total of 22% of the victims were white, 12% Hispanic or Latino, 8% Asian and 5% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
Victims ages 18-24 made up the majority of the shooting victims at 28%, followed by ages 30-39 at 22%, ages 25-29 at 18%, ages 40-49 at 15% and ages 0-17 at 12%.
There was a 41% decrease in the overall number of shooting victims this year compared to 2024, but Black or African American males remained the majority of shooting victims in both years and in the first quarter of the last five years.
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