Seattle moves to take guns from traffickers on Aurora as mayor closes streets

Seattle's top lawyer wants to use a tool often reserved for domestic violence cases to strip pimps and human traffickers on Aurora Avenue of their weapons.

Simultaneously, Mayor Katie Wilson said she's closing streets between 96th and 102nd, an effort to prevent cars from circling the neighborhood.

The announcements from Wilson and City Attorney Erika Evans came amid calls for action from businesses and residents on the North Seattle stretch of highway. The level of gun violence, prostitution and gun activity has gotten out of hand, they say.

The situation on Aurora is unacceptable," Wilson said in a news conference Thursday. "It is unacceptable for the people who live there, it is unacceptable for the people who work there, and it is unacceptable to me as your mayor."

Aurora is known for the prostitution that occurs there. In recent years, nearby residents and businesses have also continued to raise concerns about the level of gun violence in the area.

Those calls have become louder over the past several weeks. Amid police data showing gunshots have increased, residents put makeshift barriers on streets to prevent people from driving near their homes. They also staged a march last weekend, calling for more action from City Hall.

The agitation has now found a vein.

"We are here united across multiple branches of government," said council President Joy Hollingsworth, standing in front of representatives from every branch of Seattle government.

Evans, who said she's been working on the issue since taking office in January, said she wants funding for a full-time prosecutor focused solely on gun removal. That person will be empowered to ask for so-called Extreme Risk Protection Orders to be levied against those seen as facilitating violence there.

The orders are often used in cases involving domestic violence or mental illness, allowing a judge to temporarily prohibit a person from having firearms even when criminal charges have not been filed.

Using it in the context of traffickers on Aurora would be a novel approach that would allow prosecutors to intervene with a lower standard of evidence. A person violating the orders could be charged with a felony.

"It is a measurable strategy to get guns out of the hands of people who pose extreme risks in our communities," Evans said.

Wilson's decision to close the streets comes several weeks after residents in the area put up their own makeshift barriers. The Seattle Department of Transportation removed the barriers and put in "traffic calming" measures. The council and others, though, wanted Wilson to formalize the closures.

Members of the Seattle City Council called on her to take action earlier this week and introduced a bill to make it easier for the chief of police to declare a street closed.

In addition to the closures, Wilson said she's instructing the police and human services departments to focus resources in the area, to disrupt crime and act as a resource for the exploited women and girls in the area.

"We absolutely need to stop the human trafficking, and we also need to take care not to push women further into the margins, create more danger for them, or blame them for causing this problem," she said.

In 2024, the Seattle City Council passed a law allowing prosecutors to ask judges for "stay out" orders, imposed on anyone found to be associated with the prostitution in the area around Aurora. Anyone with an order attached to their name found within that area could be arrested.

That law is still on the books.

The orders were endorsed by former City Attorney Ann Davison. Her successor, Evans, said her experiences as a prosecutor taught her they're ineffective.

"If they were effective then areas of Aurora would be safer and they're not," she said in an interview.

The showing of unity Thursday came despite some tensions between Wilson and the council about the city's approach to public safety. Some members criticized her initial hesitance to turn on surveillance cameras they had authorized near Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park during the World Cup, though Wilson agreed last week to turn them on.

Nevertheless, Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the public safety committee, criticized city leadership in general terms Thursday.

"There's been a lack of implementation of ordinances passed into law," he said. "There was a lack of accountability to match the compassion in our efforts.

Police surveillance cameras on Aurora are currently in use.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.