Note: please see updates in this post. Around 2pm today, there was an officer involved shooting at Kerry Park. We are receiving many reports from readers on what happened, and many conflicting stories. We are sorting through the details available and waiting on official word from SPD.
Here’s what we know from SPD at this time: there was an officer involved shooting at Kerry Park, a man in his 30s was taken to Harborview Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds.
UPDATE: multiple reports from witnesses indicate that an attempted carjacking at Queen Anne Ave N & Garfield St may have begun the day’s incidents, with the suspect ending up at Kerry Park with a weapon (both a knife and a gun have been cited by witness reports) confronting SPD officers.
UPDATE #2: From SPD:
Police Wound Knife Wielding Suspect During Confrontation Near Kerry Park
Written by on
“Seattle Police Force Investigation detectives are investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred near Queen Anne’s Kerry Park earlier this afternoon.
West Precinct patrol officers were dispatched to a report of an attempted car theft in the 1500 block of Queen Anne Avenue N around 1:45 p.m.
Officers arrived just minutes later and confronted the knife wielding suspect near Kerry Park. One officer used a Taser to try and subdue the suspect but without success. Another officer fired upon and wounded the suspect.
Seattle Fire medics provided emergency care to the suspect and transported him to Harborview Medical Center. The suspect’s injuries appear to be non-life threatening.
The suspect is an African American in his thirties. Police are working to gather additional details on his identity.”
UPDATE #3: From The Seattle Times:
“Police spokesman Patrick Michaud said officers were called with reports of a man trying to steal a car. When they got to the area, he approached him with a knife, Michaud said. He said officers first tried to talk with the man, telling him he would be shot with a taser if he didn’t drop the knife. They did shoot him with a taser, Michaud said, but the taser “didn’t have the desired effect,” and the officers fired when he continued to approach.
Michaud said it’s going to take time to figure out what happened and why it ended the way it did. The man was taken to Harborview Medical Center with what police called nonthreatening injuries.
Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole, who went to the scene, said investigators were searching for patrol-car video of the incident and that, if found, it would be released as soon as possible.”
UPDATE #4: Suspect has been identified by SPD as James Linwood Slade:
“The suspect in today’s incident has been identified as James Linwood Slade, age 31.
At the time of the confrontation, he was wanted in all 50 states for escaping from Washington Department of Corrections community custody. The underlying offense for his DOC status is assault. The warrant, dated January 4, 2016, indicates that Slade has a violent history and may be armed.”
UPDATE #5: SPD dashcam video now available:
Description per SPD Blotter:
“Newly released dashcam video shows one officer shoot James Slade as he advances with a raised knife.
Still armed with a knife and now wounded, Slade can be heard pleading with officers to kill him. Slade stands up and climbs into the driver’s seat of a patrol car. It is at this point that another officer tases him, something that is sequentially different from our original post and is corrected above.
Dashcam shows officers remove Slade from the patrol car and provide first aid until Seattle Fire medics arrive on scene.”
We will continue to update this post as soon as we have more information.