Katie Wilson (00:01):
Good evening everyone. Thank you for your patience as we've been working to make sure that we can provide accurate information. I'm sorry that we're having to gather here tonight under these tragic circumstances. What happened here today at the Seattle Center was an unbelievable tragedy and a horrific act of violence. My heart right now is with the victims and their families and with everyone in our community who is reeling for what happened here today. We have far too much gun violence in this city and in this country. And we're coming off of a week in Seattle where we've had three major incidents of gun violence in just a few days. We have a lot of work to do as a city and as a country to make this better.
Reporter (00:42):
I get to have it clear, but we need to know what happened tonight, please.
Katie Wilson (00:45):
Yes. So, our focus right now is with this investigation, with learning what happened so that we can provide accurate information to the public with supporting the victims. And I'm going to turn it over to Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis to tell you what we know.
Tyrone Davis (01:02):
So, this afternoon we had officers working our Bite of Seattle event. At 6:01 PM, gunshots were heard. We had officers in the area, in the immediate area when these gunshots went off. Officers responded and addressed one of the shooters. That person gave up and was taken into custody. There was another person that we believe that was also involved that fled the scene and officers began an active search for that person. We discovered as we got to the scene that there were a total of seven victims that suffered gunshot wounds at the scene. Officers immediately began to perform CPR and first aid on several victims.
(01:50)
We had a total of four victims that were transported by the Seattle Fire Department to Harborview Medical Center. We had another two more victims that remained on the scene and were unfortunately unable to survive their injuries. So, that's a total of seven victims. We had another victim that later showed up at the University of Washington Medical Center with also a gunshot wound. One of the victims at Harborview Medical Center did not survive their injuries. So, now we have a total of three fatalities out of those seven victims. This is a tragedy. I'm really sorry that this happened. The bite of Seattle is a very positive event. We haven't had any issue in recent years.
(02:47)
And thankfully, we had officers on the scene that were brave, went to those shots and prevented more victims from being injured. This is going to be an ongoing investigation. We're going to be out here for several hours trying to figure out exactly what happened tonight. Right now we believe that we have no outstanding threat to the community. We do have one suspect that is being interviewed. We've recovered two guns. It's one thing to note, one of the four victims that was taken to the hospital was a toddler. Again, this is a terrible, terrible event. All victims that are hospitalized are in stable condition. And again, we're going to be out here for several hours trying to figure out what happened tonight.
(03:39)
We have a number of agencies that are here to support us with our criminal investigation and it's ongoing. We're not going to have a lot of information to share at this time, but we will have more information for everyone in the coming hours.
Reporter (03:53):
So, you only have one shooter in custody?
Tyrone Davis (03:58):
We have one shooter in custody at this time.
Reporter (03:58):
And one is outstanding?
(03:59)
One outstanding?
Tyrone Davis (04:02):
We believe there is one outstanding. That is part of our investigation. We are still trying to gather more information.
Reporter (04:08):
Do you have a suspect description?
Tyrone Davis (04:11):
I do not have a suspect description for you at this time.
Bob Ferguson (04:15):
So, this was a shootout in Bite of Seattle?
Tyrone Davis (04:18):
There were two people who we believe were shooting at each other.
Reporter (04:22):
We don't have suspect description, but do you know who you're looking for?
Tyrone Davis (04:26):
We are still working on that. We'll have more information for you.
Reporter (04:29):
Were the surveillance cameras in the area and are any of the city operated surveillance cameras?
Tyrone Davis (04:35):
There were no surveillance cameras in the immediate area where the shooting occurred.
Reporter (04:40):
Any idea on a motive?
Tyrone Davis (04:42):
Not at this time.
Reporter (04:42):
How old's your suspect in custody right now?
Tyrone Davis (04:45):
I'm not able to disclose that at a time. They're a young person.
Reporter (04:49):
Do you believe that the shooters were shooting at each other and those who were hit were innocent bystanders?
Tyrone Davis (04:54):
We believe that there were two people shooting at each other.
Bob Ferguson (04:57):
Is there a weapon recovered?
Tyrone Davis (05:00):
We have recovered two weapons so far.
Reporter (05:05):
Were the people hit innocent bystander?
Tyrone Davis (05:05):
We don't know their involvement at this time. Obviously, again, we had a toddler that was shot, so I don't believe they were involved with the actual incident or involved with the violence that was led up to it.
Reporter (05:16):
Is the toddler alive? So, shooters knew each other-
Tyrone Davis (05:20):
All victims are in stable condition.
Reporter (05:23):
Do you believe the two shooters knew each other before or?
Tyrone Davis (05:26):
We're working to determine that.
Reporter (05:29):
What were the weapons that were recovered?
Tyrone Davis (05:31):
I don't have that information for you at this time.
Reporter (05:34):
Was the gang unit called out?
Tyrone Davis (05:36):
So, we have several detectives here on scene. We have our homicide unit, our gun violence reduction unit. Our CSI unit is also here at the scene, as well as some local partners from King County, Washington State Patrol, and the FBI. So, yeah, we have a lot of people helping us with this investigation.
Reporter (05:58):
Were there any cameras here that could have been turned on?
Tyrone Davis (06:01):
I'm sorry?
Reporter (06:02):
Did you say one person is in custody and you're also interviewing a suspect?
Tyrone Davis (06:06):
We are interviewing one person at this time that we believe is the suspect in this incident.
Reporter (06:09):
Is that person detained?
Tyrone Davis (06:14):
Yeah, we have them in custody at this time.
Reporter (06:15):
So, who is the person that's outstanding them?
Tyrone Davis (06:18):
We are working to determine that.
Reporter (06:20):
So, is that a third person?
Tyrone Davis (06:21):
No. There's one other person that we're looking at so far. There may be more. We're still trying to figure this out. We have a limited amount of witnesses. So, one of the things that really could help us out is if people would call our violence hotline, which is 206-233-5000. So, if you could call our hotline, again, that's 206-233-5000. We know that there were people out there when this incident occurred that saw what happened and know that some of the people that might be involved and can share information.
Reporter (06:53):
So, are there cameras here at Seattle Center that can be turned on?
Tyrone Davis (06:58):
There are no cameras that I'm aware of that are posted where this shooting occurred.
Reporter (07:02):
Talk about activity in the Civil Science Center.
Tyrone Davis (07:06):
We did have some areas of some different grounds where we conducted some searches for possible suspects. We've cleared that. Again, we don't believe that there were any potential suspects or threats in the immediate area.
Reporter (07:18):
So, people that we spoke to said it's wall to wall with people shoulder to shoulder. How can there be no witnesses if it was just packed full of people?
Tyrone Davis (07:27):
We have witnesses. There are witnesses. They're not coming forward. We need people to be brave, to reach out to us. You can do so anonymously. We know that we have people probably have evidence or have information that they can share with us. So, please come forward. You can call our hotline. It's 206-233-5000. We need information. We need help to solve this crime.
Reporter (07:51):
When are the park going to be opening?
Tyrone Davis (07:53):
We are going to be working with the center ground staff to kind of figure that out. As you can imagine, there were a lot of vendors here. We have to clear the scene, make everything safe and collect all evidence. And then we'll be working together with the center ground staff and the vendors to clear the park and open it up.
Reporter (08:11):
Mayor, after this tragedy, would you consider adding cameras to Seattle Center and maybe other parts of the city near Seattle Center?
Katie Wilson (08:19):
My understanding is that there are cameras in Seattle Center and we're working to see if any relevant footage is on those cameras.
Reporter (08:26):
Mayor, just walk through the city's response to the center [inaudible 00:08:28].
Katie Wilson (08:33):
Absolutely. Right. Our focus right now is on supporting the victims as SPD and partners continue this investigation. And we've had a complete response from SPD and the fire, all our first responders, medics, and folks at Harborview. We'll be working through human services department to figure out what support we can provide to the victims and their family. We learn more about the nature of violence. There may be other things the city can do to support as well.
Reporter (08:58):
Mayor Wilson, what happened with the change in press releases?
Katie Wilson (09:02):
Sorry?
Reporter (09:03):
What happened with the change in press releases? The original press release said one or two people were in custody and then that changed.
Katie Wilson (09:11):
Yeah. In any situation like this, there's information flying around. And so, we had an initial report that two suspects might've been taken into custody and that ended up being untrue.
Reporter (09:22):
Do we know around how many shots were fired?
Tyrone Davis (09:24):
I don't have that information at this time.
Reporter (09:26):
Where exactly did you respond to the conversation?
Tyrone Davis (09:29):
So, the shooting occurred right outside of the armory. So, just right outside the armory is where the shooting occurred. Again, we had officers there at the scene ready to address that incident when it occurred.
Reporter (09:42):
And any note of what you remember?
Tyrone Davis (09:44):
Not at this time. That'll be a part of our investigation.
Reporter (09:47):
What part of the armory? What part of the armory?
Tyrone Davis (09:49):
So, I guess, I don't know if directionals work for you, but it would be on the northwest corner of the armory.
Reporter (09:55):
Mayor, where is Chief Sean Barnes? And does he actually have a residence here in Seattle?
Tyrone Davis (10:00):
Yeah, I believe he does. He's out of town right now. He'll be back in the morning. So, I'm serving as acting chief in his absence, but he'll be here in the morning.
Reporter (10:10):
Any changes to procedure for future events in the Seattle Center?
Tyrone Davis (10:10):
Say that again?
Reporter (10:14):
Any changes to procedure for future public events such as-
Tyrone Davis (10:18):
Whenever we have a large incident like this and it's a serious tragedy, we always try to figure out how we can do things better. How will that be facilitated? We will work together with our city partners and all the stakeholders involved because when we have the bite of Seattle next year, we want it to be a safe event. So, we will work together to try to figure out how we can make a safe event occur next year.
Reporter (10:38):
Sir, I know there was a question about vendors. This is a little bit of oddball one, but families have been asking me how they can get their things. People left car seats, laptops, everyone dropped and ran. How's that going to be coordinated?
Tyrone Davis (10:52):
Yeah, we're working on that plan right now. So, we're working again with the center ground staff to figure out how we can return the part back to its pure form once we have collected all evidence, completed our investigation here at the scene.
Reporter (11:06):
Should we check back in with you or is there a number they can call to check in?
Tyrone Davis (11:10):
Check with our media team.
Reporter (11:12):
Okay.
Tyrone Davis (11:13):
And I'll also work with the center ground staff to see if their public affairs folks can get a contact information, that contact information team.
Reporter (11:23):
How long did it take for officers to get on scene?
Tyrone Davis (11:24):
Say that?
Reporter (11:24):
How long did it take for officers to get on scene with officers?
Tyrone Davis (11:25):
They were right there. They were right there. They heard the shots and confronted the suspect that they saw actually shooting and stopped that shooting from continuing.
Reporter (11:34):
Did any officers fire weapons?
Tyrone Davis (11:35):
No officers fired weapons.
Reporter (11:37):
Sorry, do you know for a fact that both of the two suspects shot? Did they both fire their weapons?
Tyrone Davis (11:49):
We only know right now about one suspect firing shots, that the officers actually observed shooting. So, that's what we can share at this time. Again, as we find out more and learn more, we'll share that information.
Reporter (12:04):
But the outstanding suspect who had a firearm?
Tyrone Davis (12:07):
I don't have that information at this time.
Reporter (12:10):
We also know two weapons were recovered, but we don't know whether they came from the same-
Tyrone Davis (12:15):
I'm not able to disclose that at this time.
Reporter (12:17):
And I'm sorry, we heard a lot of witnesses talking about rapid fire shooting. Is there any word on whether there were lock switches involved or any automatic weapons?
Tyrone Davis (12:27):
I won't comment about that at this time.
Reporter (12:29):
Any indication that this can be gang related?
Tyrone Davis (12:31):
That'll be a part of our investigation, so we don't have that information at this time.
Reporter (12:36):
Governor, after this public safety tragedy, what is your office doing to add more police officers to cities like Seattle and Washington State?
Bob Ferguson (12:42):
Yeah. Well, a couple things. Number one, I just want to express my deep appreciation. We're the first responders who, as you heard, were literally on the scene and stepped in to address the situation and to also secure the entire Seattle Center, which I know took some time. So, we deeply appreciate all of their work. Number two, before I answer your question, of course, I want to say how to see as iconic an event as we have in the city of Seattle is where our community comes together and enjoys our city and being together. And any shooting like this is senseless. I think it's magnified for an event like this. And so, all of us, our hearts go out too.
(13:26)
Everybody who's impacted by this. I can't imagine being a parent of a two-year-old toddler, for example, who's injured in a shooting like this, but for everybody who's impacted, our hearts fought to down. Number two, to your question specifically, yes. As you know, in legislation, my first year as governor, we put into our budget $100 million grants program for local jurisdictions to get more law enforcement officers, which is something I support as part of my campaign for governor. That legislation got through and now those dollars are starting to flow to local jurisdictions. So, I support that effort.
(13:54)
We'll continue to support that effort. I think that's a reason this is the type of thing we rely on our first responders in a time like this to keep our community safe. That's why I support.
Reporter (14:05):
Chief, how are you and your officers doing?
Tyrone Davis (14:09):
We have officers on the scene. We obviously get contact from potential family members of victims. So, they may have information for us, so we'll try to work with them. We have a number of support services on scene, including chaplain services that are here to support both the officers who obviously went through the stressful and traumatic situation, and as well as those families, witnesses and people that are affected by what happened today.
Reporter (14:32):
Your thoughts about those officers who they ran right into this.
Tyrone Davis (14:36):
I mean, this heroic work gets done daily in the city. Unfortunately, it takes a horrible, tragic situation like this for you to hear about all the hard work that our officers do. So, yeah, please, when you see them, thank them for their service, recognize their work. There was some heroic work done today. I'm sure there were some lives that were saved because of it, but it's nothing that we're going to celebrate right now. This is a tragedy. This is something that we want to prevent. We always want to get it right. We always want to keep somebody safe. And so, when our lives are lost, it's a tough time for our city.
(15:11)
So, I appreciate the officers. I appreciate their efforts. This could have been worse, but yeah, it's still a tragedy that we're unfortunately having today. My heart's go out to all of those that are affected by this, including the family and people that lost their lives today.
Reporter (15:28):
Congressman Jayapal, has the Trump administration been briefed on what's happening here at the federal level?
Pramila Jayapal (15:31):
I know that the FBI has been in touch obviously, and we are coordinating across all different levels of government. We're going to continue to work with the mayor, with the governor to make sure we get whatever federal resources we need here on the ground. And let me also just add my thanks to Seattle police officers as well as fire department professionals, as well as those at Harborview, the frontline medical professionals that are treating the victims tonight and dealing with the pain of the families that are suffering through this.
(15:32)
We will continue to closely coordinate across all of our offices to make sure that the city gets what it needs, so that we can figure out exactly what happened here, get the resources we need, get the support we need to the families and to the community. I know I've heard from a number of constituents who are here at Bite of Seattle, and I know it was traumatic for everyone who was here. It's such an incredible festival. I know it means a lot to our community. And so, I'm sorry, our prayers, our hearts are with all those who were affected by tonight. And just know that all of us are working very hard to make sure we get to the bottom.
Reporter (16:43):
Ma'am, were you attending the bite?
(16:43)
Do you know what's a danger to the general public?
Tyrone Davis (16:45):
No, not at this time. We believe there's no danger to the general public related to this incident.
Reporter (16:50):
Congresswoman, were you attending the bite? Were you attending the bite, ma'am?
Pramila Jayapal (16:55):
No, I was not at the bite.
Reporter (16:56):
Oh, were you in the area?
Pramila Jayapal (16:59):
No, I was in West Seattle, but immediately was in touched with the mayor and with the governor as soon as we heard what happened.
Reporter (17:03):
Roughly, where are we looking for?
Pramila Jayapal (17:08):
Where are we looking for?
Reporter (17:09):
The second-
Pramila Jayapal (17:11):
Well, we were looking in the immediate area. So, we got witness accounts that there might have been some possible suspects in the area. And so, that's where we directed our search right after the incident occurred.
Reporter (17:20):
So, officers only the Seattle Center area. Is this area secure?
Tyrone Davis (17:25):
It is secure. We believe it's secure. If you mean it's secure in the sense that if there's any outstanding suspects, we don't believe there's any on the grounds.
Reporter (17:33):
Did you say something about the age of the suspect?
Tyrone Davis (17:39):
I did not.
Reporter (17:39):
Can you share under age?
Tyrone Davis (17:40):
I would say that they're a young person and that's what I'm comfortable saying at this point.
Reporter (17:43):
[inaudible 00:17:44].
Tyrone Davis (17:47):
Will not be able to share that at this time.
Reporter (17:49):
When did you share information about this incident?
Tyrone Davis (17:51):
We still have information coming out in the coming hours. We'll have our blotter. We'll put some information out there with some more details. And of course, you can always contact Seattle Police Department Public Affairs and get more information from our team there.
Reporter (18:06):
Is the suspect in custody also described as a young person?
Tyrone Davis (18:06):
Yes.
Reporter (18:06):
Right and adult.
Tyrone Davis (18:12):
I'm not going to say whether they're adult or a juvenile at this time.
Reporter (18:15):
I've been hearing from vendors and musicians that played that they really want to continue this festival. It's so important to the community and to the artists and the musicians that were involved. So, they expressed to me that they would love to see some kind of a way to make people feel safe so that we can do this again. Three days of free music events is amazing for any city. So, whether it takes metal detectors or whatever it will take to make people feel safe, I think the musicians would really like to make sure this can happen again and that people don't stop going out because it's a big part of what Seattle's all about.
Katie Wilson (18:50):
Yes. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their city and especially in big gathering places like this, we want people to be able to come out and feel safe and be able to gather together and enjoy that community.
Reporter (19:04):
Do you know how many officers were at the bite of Seattle before the incident occurred?
Tyrone Davis (19:08):
Dozens. We had dozens of officers working the grounds to try to keep our event safe. And unfortunately, it didn't work out like we had hoped it would.
Reporter (19:17):
How many initially responded?
Tyrone Davis (19:19):
I don't have that number at this time, but there were several officers there to quickly bring the scene under somewhat control so we can start providing first aid and open the area up for the fire department to come in and assist with performing first aid and CPR on our victims.
Reporter (19:39):
Can you just clarify one more time.
(19:39)
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We have a couple more questions.
Tyrone Davis (19:43):
Yeah. We'll have some more information. That'd be something we can put out as well. We're still gathering information, but there were a lot of people here when this incident occurred.
Reporter (19:51):
So, to clarify the number of victims, it was four taken to Harborview, one who showed up later at UDub, and-
Tyrone Davis (19:58):
Two deceased here at the scene.
Reporter (20:01):
Okay.
Tyrone Davis (20:01):
And one passed away.
Reporter (20:05):
One passed away at Harborview. Okay. Thank you.
Tyrone Davis (20:06):
All right. I think we're done.
Reporter (20:09):
Anything else you want to do?
Tyrone Davis (20:10):
Okay.
Reporter (20:12):
Phone number for people who have information?
Tyrone Davis (20:14):
The phone number again for people who have information. Our hotline, call it 206-233-5000. DNS 206-233-5000. We need your help. We can't solve this without help from our community. So, please, if you have information, give us a call. Thank you.
Reporter (20:34):
Thank you guys.
(20:34)
Thank you.
(20:34)
I saw that...