SEATTLE — Domestic extremism has been a focus at the Seattle office of the FBI.
"We have teams of investigators in every field office in the country, 56 field offices who are working to address proactively and try to prevent violence from happening with these threats," said Stephanie Shark, an FBI Special Agent and member of the bureau's counterterrorism unit.
"Racially motivated violent extremism continues to be one of our top priorities," she said Monday, standing in the Seattle field office.
"We see the online space is one of the main areas where people are radicalized so often what we will see in terms of a minor for instance, they're curious about a topic, they want to learn more about it, they go online, to learn, what does ISIS mean? What does hate speech mean? They end up going what I like to call down the rabbit hole where they keep being fed more and more information that will take their brains and their processes in ways and indirection that is very negative and very violent."
The Bureau was part of drafting a document called "US Violent Extremist Mobilization Indicators", and made it available online as an effort to spot unusual activity before it occurs.
Still, she acknowledges it does take private tips, along with community and corporate support to break up extremist activity.
For instance, in the Buffalo shootings, the 18-year-old suspect is alleged to have posted a manifesto on Google Docs, and broadcasted his crimes on Amazon-owned Twitch.
A Twitch spokesperson wrote to KING5 on Monday:
"We are devastated to hear about the shooting that took place this afternoon in Buffalo, New York. Our hearts go out to the community impacted by this tragedy. Twitch has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind and works swiftly to respond to all incidents. The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content."
The murders also spotlight local gun laws, and what has changed over the years.
In Washington State, Governor Jay Inslee just signed a package of bills that, among other prohibitions, will restrict sales of high-capacity magazines. Those regulations don't take effect until July 1st.
Both Seattle and Tacoma have passed legislation to tax guns and ammunition as a deterrent to sales. But Seattle only raised $165,414 in 2021, per a city spokesperson. Tacoma has yet to officially enforce the law, because the pandemic delayed an obligated outreach requirement, according to a city spokesperson. That public meeting is slated for May 26th.