Seattle official blames capitalism for latest shooting in CHOP

FPI / July 1, 2020

A shooting in Seattle's so-called Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) on Monday left a 16-year-old dead and a 14-year-old injured.

Police responded to the area around 3 a.m. Monday and found a Jeep Cherokee with multiple bullet holes. "Detectives searched the Jeep for evidence, but it was clear the crime scene had been disturbed," the Seattle Police Department said. There are no suspects in custody.

A Seattle City Council member said capitalism is to blame for the lawlessness in the police-free zone.

“While we await details of this tragic killing, it highlights capitalism’s brutality & endemic violence,” Kshama Sawant tweeted Monday. “Our movement rejects insinuations & falsehoods perpetuated by corporate & conservative media that this violence is outcome of CHOP or of our movement.”

Sawant added: “Capitalism *is* a police state. While we’ll have to fight to win reforms, we have to dismantle capitalism to win a violence-free society.”

Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative political party, has advocated for the defunding of the Seattle Police Department.

“This tragic killing underscores the urgency to Defund police by at least 50 percent, win the strongest possible Amazon Tax this week to fund housing & jobs, release protesters without charges, and winning the other demands put forward by the movement,” Sawant tweeted Monday.

Three shootings were reported in CHOP last week, resulting in one death and multiple injuries, according to The Daily Caller.

“Two men are dead. Two men are dead. And a child, a 14-year-old is hospitalized, and we don't know what is going to happen to that kid. Enough is enough here,” Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said on Monday.

"This is something that's going to need to change," Best said about dismantling CHOP. "We're asking that people remove themselves from this area for the safety of the people. If they care about people, they're going to have to try to help us to make it safe."

Seattle police have mostly stayed out of the CHOP zone during the occupation, but investigators were on scene Monday to investigate the latest shooting.

Video cameras in the neighborhood captured a white Jeep driving erratically on a soccer field before crashing into a barrier.

“It is abundantly clear to our detectives people had been in and out of the car after the shooting," Best said. "Detectives have been trying to get information from witnesses, but as has been the case in other crime scenes in this area, people are not being cooperative for our requests for help."

Free Press International