Seattle officials abandoned father of CHOP vicitim

FPI / July 3, 2020

Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle police initially did not reach out to the family of a 19-year-old black man who was murdered inside the so-called CHOP autonomous zone, the man's father told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday.

"They need to come talk to me and somebody needs to come tell me something, because I still don't know nothing," an emotional Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr. told Hannity. "Somebody needs to come to my house and knock on my door and tell me something. I don't know nothing. All I know is my son got killed up there.

"They say, 'He's just a 19-year-old.' No, that's Horace Lorenzo Anderson [Jr.]. That's my son, and I loved him."

[Update: President Donald Trump called Anderson later on Wednesday as did Durkan. “We just talked to the president of the United States,” Anderson’s friend and family spokesman Andre Taylor, who took part in Wednesday’s interview, told Fox News. “How are you going to top that? He was incredibly gracious, and it gave Horace some extra help as he buried his son.”]

Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. was killed early on the morning of June 20, when shots rang out near Cal Anderson Park on 10th Avenue and East Pine Street inside the CHOP zone.

Anderson Sr. broke down in tears as he recalled learning of his son's death: "The only way I found out was just two of his friends, just two friends that just happened to be up there and they came and told me. They weren't even from Seattle. Now, mind you, I haven't heard — the police department, they never came ..."

Anderson, who planned to bury his son on Thursday, told Hannity that he is "numb" and hasn't been able to sleep as questions about his son's final moments remain unanswered.

"I still don't know what's going on," he said. "I'm hearing from YouTube. I don't know nothing. All I know is my son is dead. I'm still trying to figure out answers so I can sleep. I don't sleep. My kids don't sleep. I can't even stay at home. My kids, they feel like they are unsafe at home. I've been buying motel rooms and I don't have that type of money. I wasn't prepared for this."

Seattle police shut down the autonomous zone on Wednesday after a wave of violence.

On the night of Anderson Jr.'s murder, rioters within the autonomous zone refused to allow police to reach the victim, throwing bottles and projectiles at officers who tried to enter the zone at 2:30 a.m. after reports of shots fired at Cal Anderson Park.

“Officers attempted to locate a shooting victim but were met by a violent crowd that prevented officers safe access to the victims,” said the Seattle police blotter. “Officers were later informed that the victims, both males, had been transported to Harborview Medical Center by CHOP ‘medics.’ ”

Anderson said he went to the hospital and was told he couldn’t see his son, so he tried to find a police officer.

“I’m looking for a detective to tell me something, and when I get there, there’s nobody. I mean, the hospital was blank,” Anderson said. “There’s silence.”

He said he wasn’t sure the victim was actually his son until the following Thursday, when “I got to finally see him, and then in my heart, I knew it was my son now. This is my son,” he said, adding, “These were kids. They should have stopped this a long time ago.”

Andre Taylor, a Seattle community organizer who heads Not This Time, sat next to Anderson during the Hannity interview.

“Hannity, thank you for having us on your show. You were gracious to us, you were kind,” Taylor said. “We appreciate you.”

A visibly affected Hannity called it one of the most wrenching interviews he had ever conducted.

“I’ve been doing radio 31 years, TV 25 years, and I think that the message that both of you have conveyed tonight is probably more powerful than every show I’ve done combined,” he said. “And I hope that so-called leaders and elected officials listen because every Mom and Dad hears you. I hear you.”

Free Press International