On April 19, a 77-year-old man stepped off a bus in downtown Seattle. He was bothering no one — simply walking home — when he was suddenly attacked by two men. They knocked him to the ground and beat him brutally.
What’s even more disturbing is what didn’t happen. No one intervened. Even after the attackers fled, no one stepped in to help him up or call for assistance.
According to Fox 13 Seattle, the man suffered a broken arm, a fractured knee, and a deep cut above his right eye that required stitches. He was hospitalized for at least a week.
One suspect, Ahmed Abdullah Osman, 29, has been arrested and charged with second-degree assault.
Fox 13 reported:
Osman was released from jail two days after the attack while police completed their investigation and submitted the case to prosecutors. Charges were filed last week, and he is scheduled to be arraigned on May 13. A bench warrant will be issued if he fails to appear in court.His criminal history includes misdemeanor convictions for harassment (2023), first-degree attempted criminal trespass (2022), fourth-degree assault (2022), and second-degree criminal trespass (2021). He also has pending cases for fourth-degree assault and first-degree criminal trespass (2026), along with third-degree theft and fire alarm/equipment tampering (2026).
The second suspect remains at large.
The city of Seattle recently installed a series of CCTV security cameras in high-crime neighborhoods. Police used footage recorded by those cameras to identify and apprehend the suspect.
In fact, the city was on schedule to install a second set of cameras in March, but that project was put on hold by Seattle’s new socialist mayor, Katie Wilson.
Wilson released a lengthy statement at the time, which read in part [emphasis added]:
For some people, seeing CCTV cameras in the neighborhood where they live or work or attend school makes them feel safer. For others, those same cameras make them feel less safe.Those feelings are important, because our quality of life is partly about our feelings of safety or lack thereof, and our sense that our city is a welcoming place that is designed with consideration for our well-being and our humanity.
As difficult to watch as the video of the attack was, the clip of Wilson explaining the so-called “dangers” of the cameras was downright sickening.
She objected to the additional surveillance because “CCTV puts refugees at risk.”
This is legislation that will expand CCTV cameras, that could potentially be taken control of by the Trump administration. And this is legislation that could be opposed by immigrant’s rights groups, by civil liberties groups, and by members of the Color Caucus in the legislature. And I’ll quote from their letter: “This technology and technology similar to it has recently been in the news for its failure to be meaningfully and consistently secured leading to breaches that could result in sensitive data being shared by ICE and putting our immigrant and refugee communities at risk.”
Her priority is maintaining a safe space for illegal aliens and refugees. And if that interferes with the safety of vulnerable legal residents, including seniors, so be it.
None of this is a surprise. Often referred to as the Mamdani of the West during her campaign, Wilson never tried to hide her far-left world view. She once told supporters, “Yes, I am a socialist. … I’m fine with being called a socialist.”
Wilson’s indifference to the well-being of an elderly city resident reveals something about her character. Last week, she laughed at the prospect of wealthy taxpayers fleeing the city. “Bye” she said with a big grin on her face.
Seattle was already a city in decline before Wilson took office. Something tells me it’s about to get a lot worse.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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