Editorial: Time and trauma

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Once again, the news this week includes a frightening violent episode on the island, spurred by what appears to have been a person enduring a mental health crisis.

We detail this most recent incident in our page 1 story, and the similarities it shares with other cases in recent years on Vashon are striking. (As a reminder, anyone accused of a crime is considered innocent under the law until proven guilty.)

Too many times, we’ve see someone suffering from a disastrous mental health breakdown, whose pain and confusion leads them to put themselves and others in grave danger.

This tells us something about the dire need in this country for more resources, more support, more education, more honest conversation about mental health. We have made strides. We are still so far behind.

Here’s another similarity: In these cases, we have seen incredible acts of bravery and mercy from victims, family members and witnesses who see these people in crisis and, despite the danger, wrap their arms around them in love.

Yet these situations are still grievously painful for all involved. The victims and witnesses are traumatized. Those arrested and charged with a serious violent crime are frequently caught up in a psychological maelstrom. The families on all sides are often overwhelmed, raw, and concerned for their safety and privacy amid news coverage or social media discussion. For the community at large, these incidents are disturbing and can contribute to rumors, especially if people feel they are not being informed about what happened.

Reporting on these situations is very hard. We must delicately balance informing the public, maintaining the safety and privacy of crime victims, communicating with people who have endured trauma (and sometimes asking them to recount those traumatic experiences) and capturing the complex nature of crime and mental health.

We usually start to tell these stories by printing a simple article with the basic details as soon as possible. But our highest aspiration is to return to the situation when people are ready to reflect, so we can examine the root causes of these horrific situations — to tell the deeper story that speaks to why these incidents keep happening, and what we can do to reduce them. For many reasons, we usually can’t get that deeper story done within five days of the incident happening.

Time is our most precious resource, and Vashon generates far more news than many people expect. Trying to do these stories justice while managing the essential operations of the paper is a never-ending battle. We have many stories we are still fighting to tell, woefully later than we’d planned.

Thank you for supporting The Beachcomber. We will keep doing our best.