When gunfire broke out during the Bite of Seattle food festival this summer, police officers reacted almost immediately. According to a new after action report from the Seattle Police Department, it only took about 30 seconds for them to apprehend a 15-year-old suspect.
Three people were killed at the annual event held at Seattle Center and four others were injured. Even though it took police less than a minute to respond to the deadly shooting that began around 6 p.m. on July 26, it would take nearly five hours for SPD to brief reporters on the situation.
Police officials are now providing new details about why it took so long for information to be released that night. On Tuesday, SPD leaders presented the report to the city council’s Public Safety Committee.
One challenge the report highlighted was that “senior and elected officials" converged on Seattle Center after the shooting and distracted” police, leading to delays.
Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis, who was the acting police chief at the time of the shooting, told the committee that he was prepared to brief reporters at 7:30 p.m. that night, but he ended up waiting until about 11 p.m.
“What I shared in that 20-minute press conference at 11 o'clock would have been the same exact information I would have provided at 7:30. Nothing changed. That's how stable the situation was,” he said.
Davis said he was prepared to hold a press conference earlier in the evening, but was stopped by Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt.
“We were ready to go, I was ready to walk down there and handle it,” Davis said. “Then I was told we needed to wait for the mayor.”
Text messages released earlier this month by SPD indicate that Wilson arrived at Seattle Center around 10 p.m.
The report also stated that the briefings for police officials and elected officials caused delays. Officials that were present on the scene included Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
Davis said then-Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes also added to the confusion. Barnes was at a conference in Texas at the time of the shooting, but still began issuing orders from afar.
“I had to defer to Chief Barnes because he started directing people to do things, which should have gone through me as the acting chief,” Davis said. “It's kind of hard to manage the things that still need to happen, like the press conference, when you're 2,000 miles away.”
Wilson asked for Barnes' resignation days after the shooting. Both faced heavy criticism for the slow release of information.
In the months since, Wilson has taken steps to improve how the city and police communicate during emergencies. She also requested the city’s Office of Inspector General conduct a review of issues related to the shooting. That assessment is expected to be completed later this year and result in a public report.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the mayor’s director of public safety, Alison Holcomb, said that it was clear there were issues with how information was released after the Bite of Seattle shooting.
“Communications did not go well that night, and we have worked closely with the department to improve our protocols, to clarify, streamline communications, and we look forward to continuing to cooperate with the investigation being conducted by the Office of the Inspector General,” she said.
SPD’s report recommended designating an on-scene public information officer with "independent alert authority" during emergencies and separating the police chief’s command role from the mayor’s office liaison duties.
Following SPD’s presentation, Kent Loux, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, told reporters that the mayor mishandled the situation.
“The lesson here is stop interfering.” Loux said. ”Let us do the job, let us get the effort out and if the mayor wants to react to it later, go ahead have your press briefing. That’s fine. But obviously it was more critical to get information out to the public and that’s really what should have taken priority.”
The investigation into the Bite of Seattle is ongoing. The 15-year-old arrested as a suspected shooter has been charged with first degree assault with an enhanced firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree. Police are still searching for at least one other suspect involved in the shooting.
