Capitol Hill residents take a stand against crime in their neighborhood



SEATTLE - Residents in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle are gathering tonight, to take a stand against the increase in violent crime. According to Seattle police, assaults, robberies and murders in Capitol Hill are up 38% from last year.

Daniel Goodman spent the day walking the streets of Capitol Hill, warning his neighbors about the increase in crime.

“Just last Friday, I was beaten up a few blocks from here,” he says.

Goodman was leaving R Place, when a man came up behind him and hit him. He doesn’t remember much about what happened.

“I know that I was hit in the jaw. I don't know if I was hit with a fist or I was hit with an instrument.”

The very next night, a 23 year old man was killed when someone opened fire on a crowd outside the Baltic Room. Cindy Figueroa got video of the incident.

“There were bullets coming from everywhere. You could hear them,” she says.

Goodman says hearing about the shooting, so soon after his own beating, got to him.

“This was a huge wakeup call to me.”

He reached out to city leaders this week, asking them to increase police patrols and do more to make the streets of Capitol Hill safer. But he says people who live on the hill also have to do their part.

“We have to be looking out for one another. If one person gets hit, one person gets murdered, everyone in this neighborhood needs to be pissed off about it.”

That’s what he hopes will happen after tonight’s vigil. He wants people to say they want to take their streets back from the criminals.

“Let’s not let there be another victim. Come on guys, let's all work together as a community to deter crime before it happens.”