In Seattle a wave of crime is growing, business owners are fed up with theft. Armed teens were detained near a school. Amazon is cutting offices in the city and moving to the suburbs.
West Seattle business owners are tired of constant thefts and break-ins
Residents and entrepreneurs in West Seattle are facing a wave of crime that, they say, has become a persistent and exhausting problem. One local business owner openly states he is tired of him and his neighbors constantly being targeted by thieves.
A report by FOX 13 Seattle describes a growing problem with thefts and break-ins in commercial properties in the neighborhood. The business owner, who is not named, characterizes the situation as chronic: crime has become a constant background that businesspeople must accept, and this feeling of powerlessness is only growing. His statement "I'm tired of being the target" eloquently reflects the general mood. Although the brief article overview does not provide specific figures or incident details, the very fact that people turned to the media indicates the seriousness and duration of the problem. For entrepreneurs this means not only direct financial losses from theft and property damage, but also constant stress, spending on increased security measures, and the potential decline in the area's appeal to customers. Such situations often catalyze broader discussions about the effectiveness of local law enforcement, the need for increased patrols, or even changes in approaches to combating petty crime citywide. The West Seattle story is a local instance of a wider trend faced by many urban communities where businesses find themselves on the front lines in the fight against crime.
Shooting near a Seattle school: two armed teens arrested
On Wednesday afternoon there was a shooting in the Mount Baker area of Seattle, resulting in the detention of two minors and the lockdown of two schools. The incident occurred near Franklin High School, and fortunately no students were injured.
According to KING5.com, Seattle police responded to reports of shots fired in the 3300 block of Wetmore Avenue South shortly before 1:00 p.m. Several spent shell casings were found at the scene. Witnesses reported two teens running from the area, and patrol officers quickly detained them. A firearm was seized from the teens — a handgun equipped with an extended magazine and what is known as an "auto-sire." This device, often called a "switch," is a modifying part that converts a semi-automatic pistol into an automatic weapon capable of firing continuously. Such devices are extremely dangerous and their possession is a serious legal violation.
The investigation showed the detained teens, ages 16 and 17, were involved in a shootout with at least two other people who fled and have not been located despite searches with K-9 units. Both detainees were arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm. A troubling legal fact: both teens are convicted felons under 18, which legally prohibits them from possessing any weapon. After arrest they were placed in the Judge Patricia H. Clark Juvenile Justice Center.
As a precaution during the investigation, two nearby schools implemented emergency safety measures. Seattle Public Schools confirmed Franklin High School went into full lockdown and John Muir Elementary went into shelter-in-place with modified dismissal procedures. These steps, though alarming, ensured student safety, and as noted in the report, no students were harmed.
The incident highlights several disturbing trends: access to and modification of firearms among minors, involvement in criminal activity by youths who already have convictions, and the forced adoption of emergency safety measures by schools in response to threats of nearby violence.
Amazon cuts presence in Seattle, moves to Bellevue and Redmond
The tech giant continues to reshape its geographic footprint in Washington state. New data show Amazon is actively reducing office space in the heart of Seattle while increasing investments in the suburbs. This strategic shift reflects broader trends in the commercial real estate market and changes in corporate culture after the pandemic.
According to a report in the Puget Sound Business Journal, cited by MyNorthwest.com, Amazon has vacated more than 1 million square feet of office space in Seattle since 2020. The latest step was not renewing the lease on the Terry Avenue building in the Denny Triangle, which the company had occupied since 2014. This seven-story building of 251,000 square feet will be fully vacated by May. Just in early 2024 the company eliminated nearly 595,000 square feet in the city. To put the scale in perspective: 1 million square feet is roughly 17 standard-size football fields, illustrating the magnitude of the "exodus."
This process contrasts with Amazon's active expansion in Seattle's eastern suburbs — Bellevue and Redmond. The company says it plans to create roughly 25,000 jobs in Bellevue, where three new downtown towers are already under construction. In Redmond Amazon leased a 70,000-square-foot building in the Redmond Town Center. This strategic shift in hubs is accompanied by changes in workforce numbers. While more than 60,000 employees once worked in Seattle at the company's peak, that number has now fallen to about 48,000, with over 1,400 layoffs occurring during companywide reductions earlier this year.
Experts see several reasons for this. First, logistics and cost: suburbs often offer more affordable land and new modern campuses designed for hybrid work. Second, tax policy and regulation: Seattle is known for higher business taxes, including the so-called "head tax" on large companies that sparked heated debates in the past. Third, the long-term effects of the pandemic changed attitudes toward office work. Companies are reassessing the need for centralized, expensive downtown space.
Giving up the Terry Avenue building is symbolic; it originally belonged to Seattle Children's Hospital, which sold it in 2007 for $36 million. Amazon leased it from the hospital as part of its rapid growth in the 2010s. Now, as with the Metropolitan Park North building on Howell Street — which the company abandoned in November 2024 after 11 years of tenancy — this space is surplus.
The implications of this reshaping are significant for Seattle itself. Vacating such volumes of high-end office real estate puts pressure on the commercial leasing market and could affect the downtown economy that grew for decades around the tech giant's presence. At the same time, Bellevue and Redmond stand to accelerate development, attract highly paid workers, and see infrastructure growth. Amazon’s transformation from a company concentrated in one urban center into a distributed structure with multiple hubs across the metro area is likely to set a trend for other major employers in the region and nationwide.
