Seatle police ask for public’s help in identifying people possibly involved with fatal CHOP shooting
Seattle police are asking for the public’s help in identifying several people they believe were involved in a June shooting that killed a 19-year-old man near the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, known as CHOP, according to a Tuesday statement from the department.
Lorenzo Anderson, who died of his injuries at Harborview Medical Center, was one of two people shot in the early morning of June 20. The other victim, a 33-year-old man, was taken to the hospital in critical condition that night, though his health improved and he was transferred out of intensive care a few days later.
The shooting is still under investigation, and no arrests have been made in connection to the incident.
According to police, the 33-year-old man later made “several statements online and to a media outlet, indicating he was attacked and shot following a dispute with a group of people outside the CHOP.”
Detectives said in the Police Department’s Tuesday statement that they found some of the victim’s statements “did not align with details they gathered from evidence found at the scene.”
They also said they believed the 33-year-old was with a group of people just before he was shot, and that the people of interest may be associated with a gray or silver Jeep Wrangler, the statement said.
In a brief surveillance video clip police shared from the night of the shooting, they highlight a group of four of five people standing near the corner of 11th Avenue and East Pike Street around 2:45 a.m. It’s unclear what the group is doing, but after about a minute, they disperse, with two walking north on 11th.
The video clip takes place after fire officials received the initial 911 call, which came in at 2:19 a.m., according to a timeline prepared by the Seattle Fire Department. Anderson arrived at the hospital in a private vehicle at 2:42 a.m., and the 33-year-old victim was found at 2:51 a.m., then transferred to the hospital.
The roughly six-block area near Cal Anderson Park – initially named CHAZ, for the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone – had been a gathering point throughout June for demonstrators protesting police violence against Black people following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Anderson’s mother, Donnitta Sinclair Martin, has since filed a wrongful- death claim against the city of Seattle, alleging city officials created a dangerous environment by allowing protesters to occupy six city blocks, and that police and fire officials failed to medically assist her son.
Sinclair Martin’s attorney, Mark Lindquist of the Herrmann Law Group, has said he doesn’t believe Anderson’s shooting and the shooting of the 33-year-old man the same night were connected. Seattle police didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police are asking anyone with any information about the shooting to call their violent crimes tip line at (206) 233-5000.