Seattle, WA
OPINION | An Emerald Built on Faith | South Seattle Emerald
by Cynthia Green
Founded in 2014, today marks the 10th anniversary of this publication. We asked Cynthia Green, one of its founders and past board members, to share what reaching that milestone means to her.
Faith will take you far. That phrase was on my mind as I woke up this morning and reflected on the 10th anniversary of the South Seattle Emerald.
Ten years ago, I sat at the dining room table of my old home and watched my exhausted 30-year-old son furiously type away on a new article. I edited the one he had just finished five minutes ago, and I would soon transcribe an interview for him so he could write another story early the next morning.
Those were the early days of the Emerald. It was just the two of us and his father Phillip back then. Marcus would juggle part-time jobs at the League of Women Voters and Big Brothers Big Sisters and then go out to report, write, and post articles on the Emerald. Phillip would financially support the paper, so Marcus could pay the occasional contributor he could find $50.
I would stay up most of the night transcribing, editing, and copy editing. I’d even sometimes accompany him on interviews and assignments. Now, I think back to how strange it must have seemed to some people: a novice reporter and his 65-year-old mother showing up to press conferences and protests to represent a paper few had ever heard of, while we handed out flimsy homemade business cards we printed at Kinko’s.
But we didn’t care.
We were beyond tired and frustrated with how mainstream media constantly portrayed our community. If you believe the depiction most often found in most media outlets, then our community produced nothing but drug addiction, domestic violence, and crime.
Rarely was that portrayal challenged, and even rarer were there actual voices present in media from our community to speak for themselves, to talk about the beauty, life, and positive aspects of our collective home of South Seattle.
Too often absent from newspaper columns and television screens were the authentic voices of those who have made our community the uniquely vibrant and sensational place it is: People of Color, seniors, youth, working-class residents, activists, educators, and our immigrant, Jewish, Islamic, and LGBTQIA+ community members.
Too often, their lives were reduced to soundbites and statistics. Too often, their concerns were dismissed and deprioritized because of where they lived.
Whether the Emerald lasted 10 hours, 10 days, or, now, 10 years, we knew it needed to exist to tell the stories no one else would tell, either because it wasn’t feasible for them to do so or because they just didn’t care.
Telling those stories and doing it in a way that tells the full story, where human beings are holistically portrayed — and not the fast story that decomposes soon after you finish reading it — remains the vision for the Emerald.
That vision has led us to share the stories of people like Bill Austin. No other media outlet wanted to chronicle his years-long fight to liberate his wrongly convicted son Nathan — who was struggling with drug addiction — from incarceration. Nathan needed treatment, not imprisonment. As Bill would tell me and Marcus, most media viewed his son as “just another Black drug addict,” unworthy of any concern.
It also allowed us to tell the story of Michael Flowers, who was killed during a home invasion. Following his death, most media reports painted him, the victim of an act of murder, as a man deserving of his fate. They resurfaced negative aspects of his past, none of which had any bearing on his murder. His family was infuriated, as no media was willing to correct the record of his life — none but the Emerald.
We presented the story of Michael’s life as a full human being, not a man defined by his worst mistake. To this day, his mother Mary reads our story about Michael whenever she finds herself missing him.
This vision of the Emerald that began as late nights at a dining room table has only endured because of the contributions of so many people from our community through the years. During our early years, people wrote for us, photographed for us, edited for us, reported for us, marketed for us, and advertised for us, while either not getting paid what they deserved or not getting paid at all.
They did this because our vision became theirs: a community claiming its power to tell its own story. A community unwilling to accept falsehoods about itself anymore. A community unafraid to challenge the powerful. A community that will no longer tolerate a muffling of its voice, its concerns, and its brilliance.
This is why I’m not surprised that in our 10 years of existence, so few of our local large foundations and philanthropic organizations (with the acceptation of the Inatai Foundation) have ever given any significant support to the Emerald, despite giving to larger outlets and their proclamations of “prioritizing organizations that serve marginalized communities.”
It’s because we speak too much truth. We challenge systems that produce disparities and inequities. And we don’t pretend that wrong is right, no matter whom the wrong is being done by.
I recently saw a woman about my age while waiting for the bus. She started to talk about the Emerald and said she reads it because it’s where she can find the truth about the community she’s lived in for decades. She only had $5 to donate to us per month, but it’s people like her who have allowed us to persist.
It is our community that we have had to depend on. It is our community that has not let us down in these 10 years, even at times we may have disappointed them.
Though we founded the Emerald, Marcus, Phillip, and I were only ever stewards of its vision. We were never owners of it. The Emerald does not belong to us. It belongs to you. That is why it endures.
It belongs to all those who once lived in South Seattle and have been dispersed throughout King County and Washington but still cling to the Emerald as a point of connection to the sweetest of words: home.
Sacrifice, labor, and, most of all, faith — in and from our community — is what built this home we call the Emerald. And this home will never be for sale, never displace you, and always keep the light on for you.
It has for 10 years. It will for so many more.
The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.
Cynthia A. Green is a lifelong South Seattleite. She currently works as a kinship care navigator for Catholic Community Services, helping King County kinship caregivers (including grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and others caring for family members’ children when circumstances prevent their parents from caring for them) find resources and support. Cynthia is also a volunteer tutor with the Lake Washington Youth Tutoring Program. Extremely modest, she will never tell you that the Cynthia A. Green Family Center in Skyway is named after her.
📸 Featured Image: Cynthia Green managing the raffle table at the Emerald’s first anniversary party in 2015. (Photo: Hannah Letinich)
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Seattle, WA
Seattle Kraken Sign Goaltender Victor Östman and Defenseman Ville Ottavainen to One-Year Deals | Seattle Kraken
SEATTLE (July 10, 2026) — Today, Seattle Kraken General Manager Jason Botterill announced that the club has signed goaltender Victor Östman and defenseman Ville Ottavainen both to one-year, two-way deals ($850,000 AAV) for the 2026-27 season.
Östman, 25, played his first full professional season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League (AHL), appearing in 36 games and posting a 17-15-3 record, 2.81 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and two shutouts. The 6-foot-4 goalie tallied two assists, leading all rookie netminders and tying for fifth among all AHL goaltenders. He posted a season-high 42 saves in a single game. The Danderyd, Sweden, native made his first NHL career start with the Seattle Kraken on April 16, 2026, stopping 35 shots.
Ottavainen, 23, appeared in 53 games with Coachella Valley in his third season with the Firebirds, recording 17 points (3g/14a). The 6-foot-5 blueliner finished the season with 71 penalty minutes, ranking fourth on the roster, while placing second in assists and fourth in points among Coachella Valley defensemen. During the Calder Cup Playoffs, Ottavainen scored one goal and added three assists. In 193 career regular-season AHL games, the Oulu, Finland, native has totaled 66 points (14g/52a), adding nine points (1g/8a) in 36 career playoff games.
SEATTLE – The husband of a pregnant woman killed in a random 2023 downtown Seattle shooting has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
The complaint alleges the agency failed to act on clear warning signs exhibited by the suspect, Cordell Goosby, before he opened fire on the family.
Cordell Goosby in the foreground with the crime scene, including the white Tesla the couple were shot in, in the background
King County prosecutors say Goosby shot a married couple sitting in their car on 4th Street in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood on June 13, 2023. It resulted in the death of 34-year-old Eina Kwon, who was 32 weeks pregnant at the time. Her husband, Sung Kwon, was also injured in the shooting.
Goosby was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder for the act, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity this year.
The lawsuit, filed by Kwon and his attorneys, claims that Goosby was being supported by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and was provided with other services leading up to the shooting.
In the weeks leading up to the attack, Goosby allegedly told his case worker that he was hearing voices, experiencing paranoia, and thinking of conducting drive-by shootings. The complaint alleges Goosby’s case worker was repeatedly ignored by the agency’s supervisors when bringing up Goosby’s declining mental state.
An employee responsible for initiating psychiatric holds reportedly declined to see Goosby after he texted his case worker he needed to leave Seattle fast before he hurt someone, saying he would get to it in two days. The next day, Goosby carried out the shooting.
What they’re saying:
My wife and daughter should still be here. My family will never be whole again, and every day I think about the life we were supposed to have together. I am bringing this case forward because the people who were supposed to help this man looked away when it mattered most. I don’t want another family to experience the unimaginable loss that I am left with,” said Sung Kwon.
“KCRHA knew their program participant, Mr. Goosby, was in crisis. He asked them for help. He told them, over and over, that he was hearing voices and thinking about shooting people. He was threatening KCRHA employees. The warning signs could not have been more clear. Instead of getting him help or alerting law enforcement, KCRHA told its own staff to wait it out, and discouraged others from contacting police, as well. Eina and Evelyn Kwon paid for that delay with their lives,” said Julie Kline, the Schroeter Goldmark & Bender attorney representing the Kwon family.
What’s next:
The lawsuit seeks damages for wrongful death, the death of a child, and personal injury to be determined at a future trial.
FOX 13 Seattle has reached out to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority about the lawsuit and is waiting to hear back.
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The Source: Information in this story came from a press release from Seattle-based law firm Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, a complaint filed in King County Superior Court by Sung Kwon, and previous FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
SEATTLE — The widower of Eina Kwon, a pregnant woman who was gunned down while sitting in traffic in downtown Seattle, has filed a lawsuit against the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, alleging the agency knew of escalating and threatening behavior by the gunman in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Cordell Goosby shot Kwon and her husband, Sung Kwon, at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Lenora Street in June 2023.
Seattle Police Department officers are seen investigating the shooting in Belltown near the intersection of 4th Avenue and Lenora Street on June 13, 2023. (KOMO News)
Earlier this year, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Video showed the shooting was completely random as Goosby walked up the Kwon’s car at a turn light and opened fire. Eina Kwon and her baby were killed, while Sung Kwon was shot and survived his injuries.
RELATED | Belltown restaurant reopens months after shooting death of pregnant owner Eina Kwon
The case sparked a severe backlash about the dangerous conditions on the streets of downtown Seattle during a year that set a record for homicides in the city.
According to Sung Kwon’s lawsuit, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) knew Goosby was growing delusional and violent prior to the shooting, including the day prior, when the agency declined to screen him immediately for psychiatric admission.
Weeks of escalating behavior
The lawsuit brings to light many allegations about Goosby’s interactions with KCRHA workers in the weeks before he attacked the Kwon family.
A photo showing{ }Cordell Goosby being arrested in Belltown on June 13, 2023, following a shooting that killed Eina Kwon. (KOMO)
In April 2023, the complaint says KCRHA staff started receiving complaints about Goosby’s behavior at his county-funded apartment on 1st Avenue West in Seattle. The lawsuit alleges neighbors told KCRHA staff about an overwhelming odor of marijuana and noise coming from Goosby’s apartment, the lawsuit alleges.
By June 2023, those complaints had escalated into reports of Goosby fighting strangers, displaying aggressive behavior, and talking about shooting people.
The day before shooting the Kwons, a KCRHA case worker notified her supervisors that Goosby had told her he needed to “leave Seattle fast before he hurts someone,” the lawsuit claims.
Goosby also apparently claimed people were in his vents talking to him and he was being “gang stalked”
“(KCRHA case worker) sought out (KCRHA supervisor), whom she understood to be the point person for initiating an evaluation by a Designated Crisis Responder for involuntary psychiatric admission,” the lawsuit states. “(Supervisor) declined to see Mr. Goosby that day, telling (case worker) he would get to it on Wednesday.”
Day before the random attack on the Kwon family
On June 12, 2023, Goosby confronted a property manager at his apartment complex while screaming, saying he hadn’t eaten in days and was being antagonized by neighbors.
The lawsuit claims the property manager called a KCRHA supervisor, who then discouraged the manager from calling police and assured him, “Goosby was not dangerous.”
A photo of Goosby’s county-funded apartment. (KOMO)
“By the end of the day on Monday, June 12, 2023, KCRHA had taken no steps to help Mr. Goosby or intervene in any way and did not notify law enforcement of Mr. Goosby’s threats to hurt (case worker) and others,” the lawsuit states.
But after talking with the KCRHA staff, the apartment manager called Seattle police and reported Goosby was in crisis.
According to an SPD case note included in the lawsuit, the apartment manager said Goozby was enraged about claims that people were talking to him all day and night, and said “if they don’t stop, you know what’s going to happen.”
The police report notes KCRHA staff had been notified, and the officer advised the apartment manager to call back “if (Goosby) ever seemed on the edge of committing a violent act.”
4th and Lenora Shooting
At 11:00 a.m. on June 13, 2023, the Kwon family was in their Tesla driving to their Belltown restaurant when they stopped for a turn light at 4th Avenue and Lenora Street in downtown Seattle.
Armed with a stolen gun, Goosby ran up their car at random and started firing through the glass.
Eina Kwon was shot in the head and check and did not have a heartbeat when paramedics arrived. She was rushed into surgery at Harborview Medical Center, but she and her 32-week old baby both died.
Flowers sit at Lenora Street and 4th Avenue on Thursday, June 15, 2023, in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood to honor Eina Kwon. (KOMO News)
Sung Kwon was shot in the arm and treated for his injuries.
Goosby surrendered to Seattle police immediately after the shooting. He was charged with murder in the first degree and went through multiple competency evaluations until being deemed not guilty by reason of insanity this spring.
Why family says KCRHA is responsible
Lawyers for Sung Kwon allege KCRHA had a “duty to exercise reasonable care” to prevent Goosby from harming the Kwon family.
“Mr. Goosby was a KCRHA program participant and KCRHA undertook to provide him with housing and case management services,” the lawsuit states. “KCRHA failed to implement or enforce policies and procedures for supervising and responding to program participants who pose a danger to others. KCRHA failed to adequately hire, train, and supervise personnel to handle program participants who pose a danger to others. It failed to provide guidance, protection, or support to personnel, so they were enabled, empowered, or equipped to take reasonable steps to address program participants who pose a danger.”
The suit claims KCRHA staff asked with reckless disregard of the safety, and sought to prevent others from contacting law enforcement about Goosby’s threatening behavior.
“KCRHA was negligent in its failure to take reasonable care as it related to its knowledge of Mr. Goosby’s mental state and behavior thereby creating, combining with, or increasing the foreseeable risk of improper conduct of Mr. Goosby, which KCRHA knew caused a foreseeable risk of injury to others,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint does not list a specific dollar amount, but seeks for damages to be determined at trial.
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