Seattle Police Union Chief Blasts City Leaders After Fatal Shooting In Cop-Free Zone
Seattle Police Union Chief Michael Solan is blasting city leaders after a fatal shooting occurred in its cop-free zone, referred to as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), formerly Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). Police homicide and assault detectives went to investigate the early morning shooting in Cal Anderson Park, which left one person dead and another in critical condition.
Upon their arrival, a statement reads, “Officers attempted to locate a shooting victim but 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. Officers responded to Harborview and were informed that one of the victims, a 19-year-old male, had died from injuries. The other victim, also a male, unknown age, remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.”
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Reacting to the news, President Solan stated, “Early this morning, that violence was raw and real where one of our community members lost their life and police are still not allowed into that area and were prevented to providing that police service to the area to locate victors and/or render aid. [It’s] very troubling what’s going on. It can’t stand in America, and this is a direct result of city leadership, elected officials failing the reasonable community of Seattle to enforce the rule of law. And, this just isn’t the area occupied in a six-block zone where police are still forbidden and still don’t have their East precinct. This is now impacting our entire city.”
He continues, “And again, we’re left wondering what’s next? And, now our elected officials have removed our ability to have less lethal chemical munitions that are effective for us to disburse unruly violent crowds to protect those police facilities — let alone ourselves. So, we’re in a very, very troubling time in Seattle and it’s deeply concerning that…Everybody across this country needs to be aware of what’s going on in Seattle. We need leadership now more than ever. And, I find it ironic that the same public officials [who] are creating these decisions that put everybody’s public safety at risk are now calling out for defunding the police. And, those two aren’t compatible.”
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He concludes, “You can’t have ‘defunding the police’ and better police services because the first thing to go — as you and I both know, Pete — is training. And, if you remove the training budget, you remove quality police service. And, we know that separating good cops from bad is all about training.”