One dead, one in critical condition in early morning shooting at Capitol Hill protest zone known as CHOP
By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter
Seattle police homicide and assault detectives are investigating an early morning shooting in the Capitol Hill protest zone known as CHOP that left one person dead and another in critical condition.
Seattle police said a 19-year-old man was pronounced dead at Harborview Medical Center. A second man suffered life-threatening injuries. Police have not identified the victims.
Sgt. Lauren Truscott, the department’s public information officer, said no suspects were in custody and the department urged anyone with information to call its tip line, 206-233-5000. Truscott said the department is reviewing public-source video and body-camera video for clues.
The roughly six-block area has been a gathering point for demonstrators protesting police violence against Black people and has received widespread attention since its early days when it was known as CHAZ, for Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. The area has since been renamed CHOP, an acronym for Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.
The Seattle Police Department abandoned its East Precinct, about two blocks from where the shootings occurred, on June 8 after days of violent confrontations with thousands of protesters that began downtown following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25. The killing of Floyd, a Black man who suffocated with the knee of a white police officer on his neck, has sparked nationwide protests against police racism and violence against people of color.
The empty precinct building, now boarded up and covered with graffiti, has been the hub of the ongoing occupation of the area, which includes Cal Anderson Park, one block west and across the street from the precinct.
Seattle police in a post Saturday on its blotter said officers attempted to respond to a report of shots fired inside the protest zone, but the officers “were met by a violent crowd that prevented officers safe access to the victims.”
“Officers were later informed that the victims, both males, had been transported to Harborview Medical Center by CHOP medics,” the post said.
Nearly two hours of video posted on Facebook by Omari Salisbury, a citizen journalist with Converge Media who has been documenting the protests, shows a tumultuous scene as he describes how one of the victims was receiving CPR by CHOP volunteer medics, who apparently drove the critically injured victims to Harborview Medical Center, about a mile away.
Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman at Harborview, said two gunshot victims were treated there. One died, she said, and the other was in critical condition in the intensive care unit. She did not know how they were transported from the scene to the hospital.
Salisbury’s video also shows a police extraction team — handguns drawn and in a phalanx led by officers holding shields — attempt to enter CHOP to retrieve the victims, who according to Salisbury had already been transported to the hospital by private car.
The group of officers was quickly surrounded by angry and yelling protesters, who prevented them from moving forward. The team left, but not before other protesters lined up to apparently protect the officers from angry members of the crowd as they retreated.
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Salisbury also described a scene of “pandemonium” at the medic tent when one of the victims was being treated there, as the medics and others argued over whether they should call Medic One or transport the victims themselves. “There was a lot of confusion,” he says on the video.
Salisbury said the CHOP area “emptied out pretty quickly” after the shooting. “The population got real small real quick,” he said.
The incident occurred about 2:20 a.m. near 10th Avenue and East Pine Street, according to Truscott.
It is the second incident of gun violence in the six-block protest zone. On June 7, a man was arrested after he drove his car into a crowd outside the embattled East Precinct and is accused of shooting a man who reached into his vehicle and tried to stop him. That victim was shot in the shoulder.
Molly Moon Neitzel, whose namesake ice cream shop on Capitol Hill has been an attraction for protesters and sightseers alike, said the workers manning that store have expressed concerns about safety in the past few days.
“All of us are all super supportive of the [Black Lives Matter] movement, and we’ve wanted to say open, but the last few days things have felt different,” she said. She said shifting leadership within the movement has made it difficult for businesses to communicate with the protesters.
“I no longer feel it’s safe, and I’m worried for my team and other small businesses,” Neitzel said.
One of the individuals was shot in front of her story early Saturday, she said. She has closed for the day, and says she isn’t sure when she will open again.
In an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Seattle Police Officers Guild President Michael Solan was sharply critical of Mayor Jenny Durkan and her decision to allow protesters free rein.
“Police are still not allowed into that area and were prevented to providing that police service to the area to locate victims and/or render aid. [It’s] very troubling what’s going on,” Solan said.
“This is a direct result of city leadership, elected officials failing the reasonable community of Seattle to enforce the rule of law,” Solan said. He said the issues now extend beyond the six-block area on Capitol Hill occupied by the protesters. “This is now impacting our entire city.”
Asked about the situation in Seattle during a news conference about the coronavirus Saturday, Gov. Jay Inslee said the future of the protest zone and the East Precinct were up to the city. He said he hadn’t yet had a chance to talk to Durkan.
“Clearly we need to have a way to provide adequate police and fire protection everywhere in the state of Washington, including in that area,” Inslee said. “There may have been an adequate response, we don’t know that.”
“I am governor and my role is supportive, if you will, to the entire city of Seattle and its democratically elected government,” he said.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as information becomes available.
