Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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That Northwest Gangs website that The Apprentice wrote about over the weekend? Well its founder Brad has also got a Northwest Gangs MySpace page, offering a much more personal look at the criminal world on than it's static website counterpart.

While the website offers mostly factual information, the MySpace is complete with tidbits about the author, a friends list that - judging by the profile pictures - includes at least a few gang-affiliated youths, and even some blog entries. Worth noting is the post titled Fallen Homies of 2008, originally published on February 12 (though updated since), which offers up a list of gang-related locals who've died so far this year.

Less than 3 months, and the list already includes 8 names. Some of them we've heard the local dailies repeatedly associated with Seattle's gang problem - Allen Joplin (aka "Ali"), DeChe Morrison (aka "Little Streets") - while others haven't been graced with as prominent coverage.

A rundown of the data Brad presents:

• The first killing happened on New Years Day, while the most recent was this past Sunday
• 5 of the 8 deaths were in Seattle; 1 was in Grandview; 1 was in Tukwila; and 1 was in Medford, Oregon
• 6 of the 8 victims died after being shot by someone else; the remaining 2 committed suicide
• Of the 6 murders, only 1 - that of Perry Henderson, gunned down on January 26 - has so far resulted in an arrest.

There are only two comments on the post, but one of them - from a local 23-year-old woman - sums this depress-fest up most succinctly:

These streets ain't no joke so I suggest ya stay away from em. Unless yu wanna be another R.I.P. It's only bout ta be March and I cant believe how many niggas that I kno been murdered. This shit is heavy...

You said it, sister.