SEATTLE (AP) — King County says it will respond to an increase in south county gang violence by drawing $1.4 million from a law enforcement emergency fund.
County Executive Dow Constantine said Tuesday the money will be used to buy equipment for the King County sheriff’s gang unit and reopen the sheriff’s White Center storefront, pay for three King County deputy prosecutors and a paralegal to build cases against gang members, and fund programs aimed at intervening in the lives of young Latino mothers and at-risk youth.
County Councilwoman Julia Patterson tells The Seattle Times (http://bit.ly/nFGD04) there is increasing gang violence along the Highway 99 corridor that runs through five cities — Tukwila, SeaTac, Burien, Kent and Des Moines.
Sheriff’s officers and police in those communities have been working together since a July 23 gunfight involving rival gang members wounded 12 people at a Kent car show.
