The Roundup: Community Reacts to Fatal Police Shooting

CC: When I arrived, it was a very small gathering. There was amplified noise, and there was no police presence, but there was more light rail security than I'd ever seen in my life. There were maybe a dozen light rail security officers nearby, but the event was on the sidewalk, meaning it didn't necessarily have a permit, because it seemed like it was just on normal public property. But it also was as close to where the shooting and death happened as possible. So, I'm not sure what the intention was with the location, but there were certainly points being brought up by the community around why are we on the sidewalk and not blocking traffic? If we're trying to make change, what does gathering on the sidewalk with some signs do in the dark at 7 p.m.?

CC: The first thing I noticed was protest signs. I just want to say that the official flyer does call it a rally, which is interesting, because a rally does insinuate that there is a goal of change, or at least awareness. So, I could see how protest signs are being utilized in that space, specifically against police killings, police violence. But there were some Black Lives Matter signs. So, honestly, immediately I was like, "Oh, are these recycled signs from 2020?" ... I assumed it was people from the neighborhood who showed up at this, but it was a small group of maybe a dozen people at first with some amplified noise.

As soon as I walked up, there was someone in the crowd, a Black woman with her child, yelling that she did not trust these people running this event. Basically saying that anyone she doesn't recognize as being someone who's working in this community already, and anyone working with legislators, does not automatically mean you are here for Black people.

There was some kind of language from organizers around the word "victimhood" that really triggered some of the Black Americans that said they did not want to be represented with that word at all, and that they were survivors. But it escalated very quickly. It was yelling. It was profanity. There was a person on the mic who identified as Native and being from Bainbridge Island that was verbally removed from the mic because people in the crowd said she wasn't from here.

CC: Absolutely. I would call it infighting. I think it's a normal part of revolutionary politics. But I wouldn't call it a healthy part of revolutionary politics. The part that felt different is this was a space that was specifically a memorial for a death that had just happened. The blood was still fresh on the street. And so it felt like we were turning away from what we were there to talk about, which was hard.

CC: I don't think next steps, or even steps that night, had been thought out. And I actually have empathy for anyone trying to gather community within 24 hours of a tragedy. I think on a certain level, people just needed space … but because there was so much anger and trauma, it was hard. In my opinion, I don't think there was an ask other than demanding accountability, and that is a big umbrella that takes a lot of specifics, and even if you do have a plan for police accountability, we know that it still doesn't happen a lot of the time.

It did seem the organization that was running this rally continuously brought up legislative change. Multiple times people brought up I-940. This shooting happened under I-940, which [only] dictates what to do after a police shooting happens.

CC: I was there for about an hour before I realized that there were bullet holes in this silver metallic, maybe like an electrical box, where I assume this man took his last breaths. There are still SPD bullet holes and evidence markers on this box. And at a certain point in the evening, someone said, please be mindful if you're stepping over the blood. And I didn't even realize that the blood was still wet on the cement. And that was really a surreal moment.