A man died after Seattle police officers shot him for allegedly waving a gun near an intersection Tuesday afternoon in Rainier Valley.
Police responded to a 911 call at 1:30 p.m. reporting a shirtless man brandishing a gun and walking toward Martin Luther King Jr. Way South near South Othello Street, Seattle police Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference near the scene.
Officers responded several minutes later and tried communicating with the man, but fired at him with a rifle and another firearm after he pointed the gun, Barnes said.
“Time really is not on your side unless you have immediate compliance,” Barnes said.
He did not say where the man pointed the gun or how many officers fired at the man.
No officers were injured, police said.
Officers removed the gun from the man’s hand and rendered medical aid until Seattle Fire Department personnel arrived, Barnes said.
Seattle police placed Salish Sea Elementary School, about one block south of the shooting, on lockdown as officers responded. The lockdown was lifted by about 3:30 p.m., Barnes said.
Police did not identify the man or say whether he fired the gun he was holding.
Yellow police labels were placed on around two dozen shells on the street around 3 p.m., steps away from Sound Transit’s Othello Station. Red and yellow crime scene tape and Seattle police vehicles still blocked the intersection of Othello and Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 4 p.m.
Local police accountability activist Robert Engel watched the police lights flashing in the intersection from a nearby parking lot around 4:30 p.m.
Engel, an organizer with the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Aggression, said he came to the scene after a group member who lives in an apartment building at the northeast corner of Othello and Martin Luther King Jr. Way texted him about the shooting.
The member showed Engel a photo she took from the lobby of the building of a shattered window and a police car with its doors open in the street, feet away from a tarp-covered body.
The woman said a fellow resident who was inside the lobby during the shooting was injured after a bullet struck the nearby window and taken to Harborview Medical Center, Engel said. Barnes confirmed the bystander injury, KING 5 News reported.
That’s not keeping people safe,” Engel said.
Engel said he and other organization members go to scenes of Seattle police shootings to speak to and offer support to those shot and their families. They also try gathering and sharing information about the shootings that investigators will not release or confirm, he said.
Tuesday marked the second shooting by Seattle police officers in about two months, a recurrence Engel said was “outrageous.”
The King County sheriff’s office is investigating the shooting, Seattle police spokesperson Eric Muñoz said in a phone call Tuesday.
Muñoz declined to answer additional questions about the shooting.
Service on Sound Transit's 1 Line has resumed after it was suspended at the Othello station on Tuesday due to police activity. But the transit agency said to expect delays "as service recovers.
All roadways at Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Othello Street have since reopened, the Seattle Department of Transportation said Wednesday morning.
© 2025 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
