Violence inside CHOP/CHAZ

One killed, another injured 

during shooting inside 

Seattle’s cop-free zone

NY Post,

20 June, 2020

Shooting erupted early Saturday inside Seattle’s no-cop “autonomous zone,” leaving one person dead and another critically injured — and police fuming that they were stopped from responding by a human chain of protestors.

In chaotic scenes captured on video, police with riot shields attempted to enter the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone shortly after bullets flew at approximately 2:30 a.m., but were stopped at the “border” by protestors linking arms.

“It’s the summer of chaos,” said Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild in an interview on Fox News Saturday.

“Early this morning that violence was raw and real. … One of our community members lost their life and police are still not allowed into that area and were prevented from providing that police service to the area to locate the victim and … to render aid.

“It’s very troubling.”

Both victims were driven by private vehicles to a local hospital, according to the Associated Press.

A high-ranking police source told The Post that cops were not only blocked from reaching the victims at the scene, but were confronted by armed protestors at Harborview Medical Center and kept from entering.

The source said cops also were stymied in investigating the crime scene, although some early reports said police were inside the zone collecting shell casings.

A security employee working in the area reported seeing the shooter arrive in a black SUV, and a 911 caller told police a man left the vehicle toting a rifle in the wee hours at the end of Juneteenth celebrations, according to a local blog post.

One victim — a 19-year-old man — died on the way to the hospital, police said. The other victim, with wounds to the arm and chest, was listed in critical condition Saturday in the Intensive Care Unit, Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg told the Seattle Times.

Witnesses to the melee said that protestors tried to give one of the victims CPR.

Police officers were stopped near the Rancho Bravo Tacos restaurant, at the border of the six-block protest camp where protestors have set up a security post and medical team.

Seattle police had abandoned the six-block CHAZ after receiving threats on June 8 that the East Precinct would be torched, following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/06/one-reported-dead-one-wounded-in-overnight-capitol-hill-protest-zone-shooting/