Dori writes…

 

A couple weeks ago, I talked about the gang-related shooting at Northgate Mall. A 15 year old was shot in the groin. Sounds to me like someone thought he was messin’ with their girl – so of course you have to shoot him in the groin…

 

Sunday afternoon, I went to Alderwood Mall with my wife and two of our daughters. Just an observation: local malls better figure out a way to do something about all the gangbangers and wannabes who are hanging out in the malls.

 

I went to one small store where a crazed guy in his teens was talking on his cel phone. He was pacing back and forth – screaming and swearing for several minutes at whoever was on the other end of the call. I don’t scare easily, but I knew not to make eye contact with this guy and to get the heck out of there. I grew up dealing with some vicious Scandanavian drunks outside the Vasa Sea Grill on the mean streets of Ballard, but the punk I encountered Sunday was one scary gangbanger who took things to an entirely new level.

 

I feel bad saying this – because there are a lot of good people who have invested their lives in mall businesses – but it will be a long time before I go back to the mall. As I walked out of that one store, with the heightened awareness of what I had just witnessed, I noticed the sheer number of kids just milling about. I don’t understand parents who let their kids hang out at the mall as a form of recreation. I looked in the eyes of those kids – and if the eyes are indeed the window to the soul, there were a lot of soulless kids wandering around.

 

From the Northgate shooting a couple weeks ago, to what I observed Sunday, I’d say the malls better figure out a way to get a handle on the gang problem. Because they don’t feel like a family-friendly place to me.