Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has yet to respond publicly to claims that her office delayed the release of critical safety information after a mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival, as scrutiny of the city’s response intensifies.
Seattle Police Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis told the city council’s Public Safety Committee that officers were ready to brief reporters at about 7.30pm on July 26, roughly 90 minutes after the shooting. He said Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt instructed him to wait until Ms Wilson arrived at the scene.
The eventual press conference did not take place until around 11pm, leaving the public without a full official briefing for nearly five hours. Davis said the information available at the earlier briefing would have been the same as that delivered later that evening.
“What I shared in the 20-minute press conference at 11pm would have been the same exact information I would have provided at 7.30,” he told the committee.
Police records indicate that an officer took one suspect into custody within 30 seconds of the gunfire. Seven people were shot during the incident at Seattle Center, with three dying and four others suffering injuries.
The claims follow the release of internal messages showing Seattle police were preparing for a 9.45pm media briefing. At 9.42pm, Alison Holcomb, the mayor’s public safety director, messaged police leaders: “Mayor’s on her way. Please wait for her.”
Further messages indicated that officials later waited for Washington Governor Bob Ferguson to arrive. The governor and US congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who attended the eventual briefing, have denied delaying it.
The mayor’s office previously accepted responsibility for part of the delay but had disputed claims that it prevented police from speaking sooner. It did not respond to requests for comment on Davis’s latest account.
Ms Wilson has commissioned an independent review by Seattle’s Office of Inspector General into the flow of public information after the shooting. The city has also promised stronger procedures to ensure timely updates during major public-safety incidents.
