By Steve Miletich
The Seattle Times
SEATTLE — Seattle police released graphic body-camera video Wednesday of the fatal shooting by officers early Tuesday morning of a man at Magnuson Park.
Officers shot the man in the park after he was involved in a reported armed robbery at the Northgate Mall and led officers on a car chase through North Seattle in which he fired shots, police said. The video shows him not responding to commands to raise his hands before he was shot.
The man, who police say was with a woman at the outset of the incident, has yet to be identified by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
According to police, the man is believed to have first been involved in an armed robbery about 10 p.m. Monday at the Forever 21 store in the Northgate Mall.
The store manager confronted two suspects, a man and a woman, and the man flashed a handgun, causing the manager to back away, police said in a statement posted on the department’s news website.
“The suspects drove from the mall, only to relocate to an apartment complex parking lot in the Northgate neighborhood,” police said.
There, an apartment employee observed “the suspicious vehicle in the parking lot and went to investigate,” the statement said.
The man confronted the employee and fired his gun into the ground toward the employee, police said. The employee reported the incident to police as the suspects drove away, according to the statement.
Police released cellphone video Wednesday, shot by the employee, of a profanity-laced confrontation in which the man can be seen firing a gun into the ground during an argument after the employee told him to move his car.
Shortly after, officers found the female suspect on nearby Holman Road Northwest and took her into custody.
As officers were arresting her, the male suspect drove away, police said.
Officers pursued the car and “the suspect fired multiple rounds at officers from his vehicle,” police said.
Patrol-car video of the pursuit also was released Wednesday
“Shots fired,” an officer can be heard saying in response to the sound of gunfire from the car.
The pursuit continued as the suspect entered Magnuson Park in Northeast Seattle and came to a stop near the boat ramp, police said.
Police originally said, “The suspect got out of the car with a gun and officers fired at the suspect, striking him.”
But police later amended the wording of their statement to say, “Officers found the suspect and confronted him a short distance away. During this confrontation, officers fired their weapons, striking the suspect.”
In video captured on an officer’s body-camera, officers can be seen looking for the man before confronting him in a brushy and wooded area of the park.
Officers repeatedly shouted to the man to get his hands up, show his hands and put them in the air, the video shows. The man appears to not raise his hands, keeping them at his waistband.
“You’re gonna get shot,” an officer can be heard yelling.
“Don’t reach,” an officer yelled just before police opened fire.
The man was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
No one else was hurt, police said.
Photographs of a handgun found at the scene also were released by police Wednesday.
The names of the officers who fired have yet to be disclosed.
Under standard policy, the officers have been placed on paid administrative leave while the department’s Force Investigation Team conducts interviews and gathers information. The shooting ultimately will be examined by the department’s Force Review Board to determine if it was reasonable and fell within policy.
The body-camera video is the first to be released of a fatal shooting involving the department since it began rolling out its body-camera program in July.
Two dogs in possession of the man and woman were turned over to the Seattle Animal Shelter, which was working to return them to relatives, police said.
©2017 The Seattle Times