Prostitution turf war terrorizes Seattle blocks | Jason Mattera reports

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Wake up America's turning out of this morning's Newsmax crime report. What happens when your neighborhood is under siege by a constant gunfire and the city refuses to do anything about it?

[00:00:09]Residents in one Seattle community are putting up massive road barriers themselves to stop gunmen from tearing through their streets as rival crews battle over control of the prostitution scene there. So, Newsmax crime correspondent Jason Matera has all of these details. What can you tell us, Jason?

[00:00:25]Yeah, good morning Mark and Charlotte. I used to live in Seattle and this area making news, it's in the north part of the city. It's where the only Chick-fil-A is located. So, I was there often. And what always shocked me was how openly prostitution was. You'd grab your waffle fries and milkshake at the drive-thru, pull back onto the main road, and suddenly you're passing a parade of barely dressed woman women trying to wave down drivers. Now, it's been a few years since I lived there, but apparently things have gotten much worse.

[00:01:01]That was the scene Memorial Day weekend around 4:00 a.m. on Saturday. Residents, they woke up to a hail of gunfire.

[00:01:07]Authorities say at least 40 shell casings were recovered when it was all over. And the people who call this neighborhood home, well, they've had enough.

[00:01:17]It's like, again, you know, when is this stuff going to stop?

[00:01:22]>> We could have lost our son. Thank God he's all right.

[00:01:25]>> We celebrate when there's not a shooting.

[00:01:29]To that lady's point, just within the last week, there have reportedly been at least five separate shootings in this area, allegedly carried out by rival crews fighting over who controls the prostitution market. The community says they've pleaded with Mayor Kitty Wilson to address the escalating violence, but so far they say those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. So, now some neighbors are taking matters into their own hands, putting down large barricades to slow down drive-by shootouts spilling over from the main road. Their planter boxes filled with dirt and they're going up without permits or city approval.

[00:02:08]Residents admit it won't solve the problem, but at this point they're willing to try anything so that no father has to describe how close he came to losing his child due to a stray bullet.

[00:02:21]So it actually hit my gutter and went into the house right here. And then the bassinet's like right there.

[00:02:32]Now city officials say police will step up patrols to tackle the surge of shootings, but the reality is that the Seattle Police Department is chronically understaffed. So any increased police presence will likely be temporary. And on top of that, and this is the main problem, the new mayor and the city attorney say they won't enforce the prostitution laws including measures that could bar the promoters and buyers from that area if charged. So these street-level handlers are getting a free pass to commit crime which has led to even more crime. Them blasting away at each other in residential neighborhoods. On behalf of On behalf of Charlotte, let me just say, y'all. Y'all. I mean really, this is unbelievable. So the new mayor is openly saying, oh don't worry, we won't prosecute prosecution prosecution crimes. So then it's going to continue.

[00:03:22]The shootouts will continue. You know, props to these neighbors because honestly those barricades they might do the trick.

[00:03:27]>> Yeah.

[00:03:29]That's a lot to endure to get Chick-fil-A. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, Jason. All right. [laughter] Hey, it's the only one in the city. It's the only one in the city. Of course I'm going to go there.

[00:03:37]Oh yeah. Thank you. [laughter] Information.

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