Godmother of shooting victim demands accountability from 'CHOP' protesters
SEATTLE - A corner of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone in Seattle is now a makeshift memorial site -- covered in flowers, pictures and candles for Lorenzo Anderson.
Family members stood at the corner mourning the 19-year-old, as CHOP security guards watched over them.
Protesters stopped by to share their condolences for the family.
On Sunday, spectators walking through the CHOP also stopped by the scene of the deadly shooting that occurred on June 20.
Stacy said she is Anderson’s godmother, and told Q13 News she is “outraged, appalled and disgusted” over her godson’s death, and wants answers from the protesters occupying the streets around Cal Anderson Park and the East Precinct.
“You just messed up your whole movement because you should’ve sat up here and been protecting him,” said Stacy. “You guys let a black life go in your so-called ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest on the street. Come on now.”
Stacy said she wants accountability for Anderson’s death. Specifically, she wants to know why the protesters didn’t let 911 medical help arrive sooner to her godson, and if the CHOP “medics” have legitimate credentials to give medical aid and make decisions on how the teen was treated and cared for following the shooting.
“I’m trying to understand, why wouldn’t you let 911 medics in to help him,” said Stacy. “You all picked him up. He could’ve still been breathing. We don’t know that.”
Seattle Police said officers attempted to locate the shooting victims but were met by a violent crowd that prevented officers safe access to the victims. The SPD release goes on to further state that officers were later informed that the two shooting victims were transported to Harborview Medical Center by CHOP “medics”.
The Seattle Fire Department also released a statement about their response.
“Our mission is to save lives and protect property, but we must keep our firefighters and paramedics safe so we can continue to help people. This was a scene where the risk was too high to commit our crews to respond in without a police escort.”
SFD said its policy for Scenes of Violence is to wait for law enforcement to secure the scene before sending crews in to respond.
Rooks is an organizer of the CHOP and was there during the shooting early Saturday morning.
“(Anderson) was trying to save everybody by telling the people to keep the fireworks away from the trees. An altercation arose from that,” said Rooks. “It just was a matter of egos and pride, you know, not wanting to be told what to do.”
Rooks said distrust has been growing amongst the protesters occupying the area. He hopes the shooting will serve as the wakeup call they need to come together.
“We need more unity amongst the people. We need to give each other more love,” said Rooks. “This could’ve been any one of us. There was a hundred of us plus in the field at the time just hanging out. If anything, this should bring us closer. This should make us more aware. This should make us see we are all we got.”
There are several pockets of people trying to raise money for the victim’s family to cover funeral expenses.
Stacy said Anderson was a rapper and musician who was intelligent, always smiling and a good kid. His birthday was coming up next month.
“Everybody’s points and views matter, and he mattered and he has a lot of people out here that love him,” said Stacy.
Mayor Jenny Durkan’s Office released this statement on maintaining safety:
“Thousands of peaceful demonstrators gather almost daily on Capitol Hill. Tens of thousands of others continue to gather almost daily across the City. It is the City’s responsibility to maintain the safety in these circumstances in all parts of Seattle, including the more dangerous conditions on Capitol Hill in the evenings. Chief Best and the Seattle Police Department have been working with the Seattle Fire Department and other departments to implement new strategies to deal with regularly changing circumstances in the area.
A spokesperson for Harborview Medical center said the second shooting victim is a 33-year-old man who remains in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit.