Seattle police chief resigns, days after food festival shooting

Seattle’s police chief resigned Thursday, days after there were questions about the release of information following a shooting at a food festival that left three dead, including two bystanders.

Mayor Katie B. Wilson accepted a letter resignation from Police Chief Shon Barnes, she said in a statement released by the police department. The statement does not say why Barnes resigned.

Barnes, who was appointed to head the department in 2024 by the previous mayor, was questioned along with Wilson about initial reports that two suspected shooters had been arrested after Sunday’s violence at the Bite of Seattle event, when only one had been arrested.

“We understand that people are angry. You should be. Everyone should be angry,” Barnes said at a Monday news conference.

There were also questions about a five-hour delay in the official release of more information in the wake of Sunday’s shooting, which occurred around 6 p.m.

“We want to get out information as early and as often as possible. It is unfortunate that sometimes in any situation, early information is sometimes incorrect,” Barnes said then. He said that the department would look at how to do better in the future.

Deputy Chief Andre Sayles was named interim police chief, the statement about the resignation said.

Wilson said in Thursday’s statement that “Chief Barnes has served this department and this city with dedication, and I am grateful for his service.”

Barnes said, “It has been an honor to serve the Seattle Police Department and this city.”

The president of Seattle’s City Council, Joy Hollingsworth, and city council members Dan Strauss, Debora Juarez and Bob Kettle criticized the move as rash.

“Having cycled through four police chiefs in just two and a half years, our priority must be stability, not further disruption,” they said in a joint statement. “The people of Seattle deserve reliable leadership, especially as we close out a busy summer of public events.”

Barnes was the second Black police chief of Seattle. He previously was chief of the Madison, Wisconsin, police department.

Several Black community organizations, including the Seattle NAACP and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, in a letter earlier Thursday urged the mayor not to remove Barnes.

“The tragic fatal shooting at the Bite of Seattle was heartbreaking for our city, but Chief Barnes should not be made a scapegoat for the complex challenges of public safety,” the letter said, calling it “the wrong decision at the wrong time.”

Barnes has faced criticism for spending time in Chicago, where his family lives. Sgt. Patrick Michaud, a department spokesperson, said Thursday that Barnes has made four trips to Chicago this year and spent in total about 18 days traveling there. Barnes also has traveled to several police executive and recruitment conferences. Barnes said Monday that he had been in Dallas for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives conference when the shooting occurred.

Three people in all were killed in Sunday’s gunfire, police said: Two bystanders and a 19-year-old who was one of the shooters. Four others were injured.

Police continued to look for a third possible shooter Thursday.

A 15-year-old suspect was arrested by police shortly after Sunday’s shooting, and the 19-year-old who was killed has been called by police an “associate” of that teenager.

Bystanders were killed and injured and crowds ran from the gunfire at the annual three-day event held at Seattle Center, the same complex as the city’s famous Space Needle, officials said.

Prosecutors have charged the 15-year-old with one count each of first-degree assault with a firearm enhancement, and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police said in court documents that the 15-year-old had a 9mm handgun in his coat when he was arrested, and that police saw him firing multiple times. That gun was described in the document as a Polymer80 firearm, which is sold in parts and assembled by the user.

But preliminary test results from that handgun appear to exclude it as the gun responsible for the deaths, police said in the court document, which was filed Wednesday.