A fundraiser has been set up to benefit Sultan Ujaama’s family (Image: Gofundme)
The victim who died in Thursday night’s shooting in the parking lot at 23rd and Jackson has been identified as Sultan Ujaama, a 21-year-old Central District resident.
The King County Medical Examiner identified Ujaama this week after notification of family.
According to Community Passageways, the South Seattle nonprofit providing support and resources to prevent youth incarceration, Ujaama was a new father who had taken part in their programs.
“We got to know this passionate and driven young man through our Deep Dive program, and he hoped to give back by mentoring young people himself,” the group’s statement about Ujaama reads. “He had just become a father and had another on the way—and had so much life left to give. We’re devastated to lose him.”
Ujaama died in a shooting last Thursday night in the busy AutoZone, Walgreens, and Starbucks parking lot at 23rd and Jackson. The lot owned by developer Vulcan was also the scene of gun violence in April that injured four people including a child. SPD is asking anyone with information about Thursday’s shooting to call the tip line at 206-233-5000. There have been no announced arrests.
A fundraiser to help support his family has raised thousands.
Ujaama’s killing marks the 17th homicide so far in 2021, according to @HomicideSeattle. Most of those have been gun deaths.
According to King County, gun violence continues to spike across the county, disproportionately affecting the young and communities of color. In its latest King County Firearm Violence Report, the first three months of 2021 illustrate the rise in comparison with past Q1 totals:
Of the 69 shooting victims in Q1 2021, 80% were male; 42% were between the ages of 18-24; and 78% were people of color. As compared to the four-year average (14%), there was a marked increase in the percentage of shooting victims that were women (20%) during Q1 2021.
Yearly First Quarter (January to April) Totals (Source: King County)
This week, the county introduced plans for a $1.47 million emergency budget amendment to fund “data-driven identification of the groups and neighborhoods at the highest risk of being involved in a shooting, increased community engagement, and increasing community staffing with employees to connect community members to services and support opportunities.”
“Stopping the gun violence our community witnessed last weekend in the Central District, White Center, and Pioneer Square requires more than just a criminal justice response – it requires the upstream, public health-based interventions we know can help unwind conflict and prevent future tragedies,” Executive Dow Constantine said in a statement on the proposal.
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Nobody seems to care about THESE shootings. Just the CHOP shootings. Not drivebys. Not other cop shootings. Can’t be bothered. Nope only talk about CHOP.
Exactly! Especially since 2 of 3 CHOP shootings would have happened anyway, but a few blocks away in the CD…
F’ing NIMBYs are so gross.
I’d disagree. It’s not that those focused on the CHOP shootings care more about them than those happening in the CD, or anywhere else. It’s that they demonstrate the hypocrisy of CHOP supporters and their willingness to overlook a statistically greater threat to Black lives because ACAB. There were no cops, and young black men died anyway. So maybe cops really aren’t the primary issue?
This week, the county introduced plans for a $1.47 million emergency budget amendment to fund “data-driven identification of the groups and neighborhoods at the highest risk of being involved in a shooting, increased community engagement, and increasing community staffing with employees to connect community members to services and support opportunities.”
Are you kidding me?! I think those neat pie and bar charts included in the article can give us the answer WITHOUT having to spend $1.5m. How about spending that money on high quality cameras that can pick up license plate information and facial recognition software as opposed to the SPD resorting to tip hotlines?! That way we can identify the perpetrators and and put them in jail (yes, I said jail, that’s where murderers belong) so we don’t have toddlers getting shot as their parent makes a Walgreen’s run. Then, once we aren’t living amidst constant cross-fire, we can work on improving conditions in our community so young men feel as though they have better options than joining gangs.
I hit enter too soon. Someone was just stabbed on the corner of 23rd and Jackson so there you go. Don’t waste the $1.5 million doing the research, just subscribe to Ring alerts.
Amen.
“How about spending that money on high quality cameras that can pick up license plate information and facial recognition software”
Facial recognition software? No thanks, I’d rather not be living like China.
I, for one, would like to how (the details of what lead up to this tragedy), of this young man losing his life and why??
This was my son who was murdered, the phrasing “shootout” disturbs me, my son was the victim of a crime, shootout implies two parties engaged in gun battle, my son was a victim of a shooting.
The use of shootout was in reference to a previous incident of gun violence. We have updated the post to describe the incident as gun violence to clarify. Very sorry for your loss.
My prayers go to you and your family. I pray for his child and another on the way. I pray the person or persons gets caught and prosecuted and convicted to the fullest extent of the law.
I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for correcting the language used.
I am so sorry that our community failed to protect your precious son.