Ballard High student assaulted at bus stop

Geeky Swedes Ballard

A Ballard High School student was assaulted and harassed after trying to leave a gang, reports SeattleCrime.com. According to the blog, who cites the police report, the girl was waiting at a bus stop after school on December 1 when a female member of the MS-13 gang came up and hit her, pushed her and pulled her hair. The harassment didn’t stop there. After getting off the Metro bus and waiting to transfer, a group of men pulled up in a Honda Civic and tried to pull her in but she was able to fight them off. The website goes on to say that, “The girl told officers that she recently tried to leave MS-13, but that members of the gang ‘were upset with her’ and might be looking for revenge.”

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

68 thoughts to “Ballard High student assaulted at bus stop”

  2. Welcome to your wonderful new urban dystopia. MS-13 in Ballad. Don't know about MS-13? Use the Google machine and meet your new neighbors.

    Someone in the forum asked “which part of Ballard” you would suggest buying a house in.

    Honestly, I would not recommend buying a house ANYWHERE in Ballard nowadays to anyone I cared about – no way in hell. I sure wish I could get out, but am stuck here for at least a few years. Looking forward to leaving, though.

  8. No, genius, they're not.

    But just a few years ago, the sorts of things that we see and hear about every week were totally unheard of. Now this stuff is routine, and the apologists like you just shrug.

    The fact is, this neighborhood has changed tremendously in a very short time, and as someone who has lived here for a long time, it breaks my heart to see it happening, and what's even worse is that lots of folks deny it and/or simply say don't worry be happy.

  10. No would I, but it's more likely that you will be seeing more and more of them on the sidewalk in front of your house, shooting up your street and otherwise doing their thing unconcerned about any consequences.

    The police and city government have completely abandoned us. They will do nothing.

  11. maybe they should be concerned about standing on the side walk in front of my house shooting up the streets. If you wait for city government or the police to do something your a sucker. maybe its time to wake up before its to late.

  12. is this that dreaded “MicroSoft Windows 13.0” gang that everyone is talking about?

    I'm sure the “Mac Snow Leopards” can kick their butts. We need a good ol' fashioned gang war.

  13. I didn't say any of those things and I didn't apologize.

    But I am curious as to where this magical land that's free of crime you're escaping to when your “time is up” in Ballard is.

  14. Nice straw-man argument there.

    The point is not that there are (lots of) other places where gangs have made life a hell on earth. Nor is it a list of places where MS-13 doesn't shoot up the streets.

    The point is that up until very recently, Ballard was a safe neighborhood, where stabbings, murders, muggings, and similar violent crimes were unheard of (or at best, a shocking rarity). Now, that's pretty much routine, most people don't even bat an eye, and lots of the happy-talk Ballard-boosters just shrug and say “that's life in the city – but we've got lots of great bars now, so I'm OK!!!”.

    Ballard used to be a great neighborhood. Now it's no different from a lot of other crime-filled areas – except we have all the bums now, and we pay half a million dollars to provide a nice lawn for them to crap on.

  17. “name” is right about this. Compare the crime issues reported in MyBallard with those in our adjoining neighborhoods, and it's very quickly clear that a very disproportionate amount of serious and previously rare crimes are happening in Ballard with growing frequency. While there may be some general upswing in crime during difficult economic times, what we are seeing in Ballard today is far more pronounced than what is happening in nearby neighborhoods. We need to ignore those who are hopeless apologists for violence and start doing what it takes to restore the moderate tranquility and public safety that has long been and can once again be the standard here. On the positive side, because there's a long history of public safety, that has been interrupted by the recent months and few years of growing violence and disruptive crime, we know that we have in our community already what it takes to have a safe neighborhood. Because we don't have a strong history of fighting serious crime, we need to up our game to address these kinds of issues.

  18. Are you proud that you're “looking forward to leaving”? Seems like kind of a cowardly reaction for someone who's spouting off about how Ballard has changed.

  19. “But just a few years ago, the sorts of things that we see and hear about every week were totally unheard of. Now this stuff is routine, and the apologists like you just shrug.”

    Wrong answer… There have been gang problems in Ballard since at least the early 90s. There was even a fatal drive by at Ballard High School.

  20. Unless you read any other neighborhood blog. Wallingford (via Wallyhood) has seen a significant uptick in crime, as has Green Lake and the rest of North Seattle.

    But perhaps it is not an increase at all, but better reporting (the Seattle Times never covered minor neighborhood issues like this, and the weekly paper in Ballard that shall remain unnamed never had the staff).

    I feel just as safe in Ballard as I ever did. There were shootings at both Whitman *and* Ballard in the 90's. This is nothing new.

  21. Yeah, I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there, name.

    There has been crime in the Ballard/Crown Hill area for much longer than “a few years”. My husband grew up on Phinney Ridge and he used to tell me stories of having to walk through hispanic gang turf when he was in middle school in the late 1980s.

    You probably hear more about it now because there are many many more outlets for getting news out about these kinds of stories. But they always happened.

  28. Thanks Mantini, any others able to confirm or disagree with what Mantini says, that crimes have not been on the increase any more in Ballard than in Wallingford, Green Lake, and North Seattle? I admit it's possible that MyBallard is putting a new focus on things that could have been going on all along. What do you think? Personally, I think the kind of gang activity and violence and crime are not smart to shrug off or put up with, whether these are new or long time issues. I'm in favor of making Ballard more safe that it is now, and i would like to get a more objective sense of what's going on with crime — is it getting worse in Ballard? in all of North Seattle? less worse in Ballard than Queen Anne? is it worse than it used to be? How much safer or less safe is Ballard today than most other midsize US city neighborhoods?

  29. If that is how you feel, it is time to arm yourself and handle business accordingly. If justified, no magistrate (or citizen for that matter) will miss these idiot kids caught in the gang life (including their “parents”/ nor punish you for appropriate action. Darwinism for the win. Take them out before they have kids of their own. There is such a thing as a worthless person. There are sh*t tons of them.

  33. You think these kids are from around here or 'bused in' for diversity's sake?

    The new school boundaries will eliminate a lot of these problems. Something tells me MS13 doesn't have a lot of homeys in Queen Anne and Magnolia.

  34. In LA, getting out of a gang is a death sentence. I have no idea if the gangs here follow the same rules/code, but even if she fell into it by peer pressure, it takes even more courage to get out. Good for her, and I hope her parents are going to do everything they can (including moving, possibly) to save her.

  35. I'm kind of surprised that no one has questioned the accuracy of the story.

    This story is just one blog quoting another blog who claims to have “cited the police report”. The thing about the police report is it is just an account of what the victim *said* happened, not actual journalism.

    We should be maintaining at least a slight level of cynicism when it comes to 4th hand reports like this.

  37. I attended BHS at the time of the gang related fatal drive-by shooting in 1994. Gangs are nothing new in Ballard. In fact the first time I heard about gangs was at the age of nine (Whittier Elementary). A fellow classmate had an older sibling that was in a gang.

    I agree with Mantini's statement “perhaps it is not an increase at all, but better reporting”.

    News sources of the 90's reported Seattle at a macro level. These days our neighborhood blogs are reporting at the micro level. The gangs are not new, the drugs are not new, and so on. However, today's technology allows us to send and receive information in real time.

    Anyhoot – There really should be some resources for teens that educate them about gangs (maybe there is and I just don't know).

  38. Barney, good point… my wife was at Ballard High School in the 90's when that drive by happened. Also her neighbor down the street and school mate (from ballard) was involved in a shooting/murder and is serving time still.

  39. All good points – Ballard has a history of gang activity, information flows more rapidly, and is available to most everyone. Bottom line though: Ballard is the next Bell Town.

  40. Anyone who is lamenting the “change” in Ballard has no understanding of what real Ballard has always been: an urban soup of rich, poor, blue collar, white collar, families, singles, owners, renters, homeless, elderly, saints, sinners, fewer people of color and more than a few drunken fisherman. It has *never* been the gentrified, yuppie-fied, crimeless and carefree hipster haven of homogeneity that the realtors and merchant boosters wish it to be. (Oh my goodness, a banner is missing!) Add as many condos, coffee shops and trendy restaurants as you will, but at its core, Ballard has always had a gritty side, and always will. Crime is no stranger to this area, and that hasn't changed for decades. I would know; I've been here for half a century. When my age group were kids, Golden Gardens was considered 'sketchy' and 'unsafe'; I would consider it only slightly improved today! In the 70s, Ballard High School didn't have drive-bys, but it had plenty of other issues. This is not Laurelhurst, folks. If you take on residence in a large, diverse urban neighborhood…be prepared to encounter the realities of city living. To new transplants, Ballard may seem to have it all – and in a very literal sense, it does. I sincerely hope and pray that our SPD gang units are up to the challenge of keeping the MS-13 hoodlums in check, but until they are gone, you have no choice but to be vigilant, exercise common sense in your day to day routines, and watch out for your neighbors. That's what real Ballardites have been doing all along.

  42. why is it that when the gun slingin' cit'zen get fired (feared?) up they break out the old-timey language?

    “why that magistrate will set you scott free to pedal the avenues on your velocipede, fddle dee di doncha know!!!”

    Seriously? A call to murder the “worthless” so their genetic material doesn't get reproduced?

    I think I'd rather have gang bangers next door.

  43. hey just an informational point — I grew up in cities with tons of latino gang bangers (one set used to bare-knuckles box on a front lawn down the street for fun). But in ten years in North Seattle haven't seen many gang bangers except occasionally at Greenlake and the Northgate Mall.

    Where do our relatively few gang member types tend to live in the Ballard area? Apartments between 8th/15th south of 65th? Greenwood Ave area North of 85th?

  44. I get your drift for sure, and clicked like, but there is no such thing as “always will.” Neighborhoods do change, and the force of gentrification will do more than anything else (such as police) to reduce crime and criminal elements in Ballard, probably at the expense of some of the local flavor unfortunately.

  45. No doubt these gangbangers were bused in by the former geniuses at the Seatlle public schools. New school boundaries ( welcome QA and Magnolia!) and gentrification (pushing out any home grown Ballard homeys) should continue to drive this trash out.

  46. oh, so you're a stranger now? I thought you were a neighbor in Ballard. your comment about relying on strangers to do “my” work was snarky — i don't expect anyone to do my work. I was just curious if anyone has thought to research this and would <gasp>share what they'd learned</gasp>. Too much snarky nanner-nanner attitude on myballard commentary — hopefully this will change.

  47. Just a suggestion but instead of bitching about these types of problems – GET INVOLVED!

    There are lots of organizations working to give kids a safe/healthy/productive outlet instead of joining gangs and doing other unproductive things. Just to name a few: Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Girls On the Run, Washington Mentors, Communities in Schools, and there are also many others. They are always looking for volunteers.

  48. No, I think you missed the point. He right, Ballard used to be relatively crime free. The only violence was fist fights between people who knew and loved each other when they weren't annebriated. The new crimes really are ruining the reasons to live in Ballard. It isn't much different than Capital Hill or Belltown now.

  49. You have to be kidding?! This *WAS* unusual then. People were shocked and up in arms. It changed security at Seattle Public Schools that banned guns near schools. The kid went to prison and is still there. Yesterday a gang was *in the buildings* walking about unchallenged with a baseball bat ready to kill someone. No, not the same. Name another shooting in Ballard before that one. Some of us have lived in Ballard a little longer, so while this may seem “normal” to the “New Ballard Boomers”, it isn't to people here before that. (The shooter kid was shooting at someone else in a retaliation and hit an innocent bystander killing her. The driver also went to prison. I am not aware of any other fatal shooting at any school in the north end ever besides this one, UW excepted.)

  50. Whaaa? The only Hispanics in Ballard in the 80's were employees of the Azteca. Since when did Hispanics have enough money to live *near* Phinney Ridge?! I don't believe this. You did mean North Seattle, Phinney Ridge, in the State of Washington, right? Where do you get this stuff? Ballard was lilly white until about 10-15 years ago.

  51. This comment is one of the accurate ones here. Don't forget east of Aurora between 80th and 105th. Aurora is one of the few places in the north end that has actually improved from what it was. Greenwood maybe, too. Maybe they got displaced to Ballard? Or dispersed the better word choice?

  52. Another comment that is right on. These kids are being pressured by gangs and have no one else to turn to. No older role models, nothing else to do. If we can't give kids alternatives, they will be sucked into the gang vortex. It really is becoming a crisis that needs more help from everyone. I try to give time to kids, but I am not their parent (other than mine). Part of it comes down to controlling their time and discipline, which there is very little of now from many parents.

  54. by accurate do you mean the post right before yours? My post was a question, are you saying my guesses were probably right?

    gangs problems are generally a class issue — less adult supervision (due to inflexible shift work schedule), more single parents, less household education (and hence no blueprint for how to make it in life) = unsupervised disaffected kids = gangs.

    So I was just trying to figure out what low income areas the problem was coming from, seing as how we don't really have really low income areas too near by.

    displaced is what you are going for :)

  55. I meant your comment (entering a reply indents it once. it would be indented again if I replied to the other comment)

    Can you believe the comment about Hispanics on Phinney Ridge?! That person is a lunatic!

  58. I like the diversity better, too. Just stating the fact there wasn't any beyond 10-15 years ago! So saying Hispanics lived here was bunk.

  60. These are not MS13 members, they are wannabes. Don't be “afraid” of them, they are just little punks trying to live up to a big name.

  61. There are gangs all over the place, but the reason we act suprised when we hear something like this is that we live in a normal grown-up world. Unless you are a teen in a rival gang, there's little chance your world will ever collide with theirs. They don't have eyes for us.

  62. Well said! Amazing how so many people have time to vent on this site but can't find the time to get off their lazy fat butts and actually do something! Newsflash: if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem. Stop being a rock with lips, put on your big boy undies and try doing something productive in the community. Not saying you have to give up every spare moment of your free time but even something as simple as helping a little league team for an hour on the weekend makes a difference. If all the whining, sniveling, “Ballard is going to hell” babies who have commented on this article actually got off their fat butts and volunteered some time we probably wouldn't have this problem in the first place. But no, that would be far too much of a sacrifice. Much easier to just whine and snivel like a 3 year old!

  63. I struggle with the the distinction between “wannabe” and “is” when it comes to criminals/gang members.

    In response to stories like this one there are always comments like yours — they are just wannabe punks, not the real thing.

    But the line between playing at and being a gangster/criminal is fuzzy. Actions, I think, are what defines what's the real deal and what isn't. If these kids claim gang affiliation, and they deal drugs, beat people down, and commit other crimes, then how are they different than “real” gang members? If the girl had be pulled into the car and been gang raped and beaten to a pulp what about then?

    I've known more than a few kids who've played at drug thug/criminal/gangster and then they were. It is kind of a stupid movie but Alpha Dogs does a good job of showing how blurry this distinction is.

  64. These people are MS13 in name only. Your'e crazy if you think these knuckleheads are on the same level as MS13 in LA and other major cities. Just because they have the same name doesn't mean they're the same gang. Just like there are Hells Angels chapters in places like Norway and Sweden. There might be Norwegian Hells Angels but it's probably a safe bet none of them are among the Filthy Few.

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