Are shootings contagious? Prosecutors look at gun violence like disease

The Criminal Strategies Unit in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is looking at local gun violence from a public health angle, and treating shootings as a spreading disease that can be curbed. The idea is to identify emerging patterns and try to intervene before they lead to violence.

“I like the metaphor they’re using. They treat it like epidemiologists treat a disease,” said KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney. “If you’re trying to track down a particular disease, you look at where it goes and how it travels and how it spreads.”

In 2016, there were 717 shooting incidents, and 914 in 2017. In 2018, so far there have been 699 shootings, with 67 percent of firearm homicides and 58 percent of non-fatal shootings occurring south of Seattle city limits, reported The Seattle Times.

It’s being treated as a public health issue, in which researchers are trying to predict who might be involved in future crimes and where it might occur. A few years ago, there was little local data on this. Every individual police department had their own separate information, but now eight county departments are sharing data with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which hopes to expand this to include all departments.