SEATTLE — On Wednesday, the Seattle Police Department released hundreds of pages of messages involving their office and the mayor’s office as they learned about and responded to the Bite of Seattle mass shooting.
Three people, including a 19-year-old suspect shooter, were killed; and four others, including a toddler, were shot.
The messages released today were from the Seattle Police Department. Last week, KIRO 7 obtained messages from Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s Office.
KIRO 7 sorted through the text messages to give you a timeline of the city’s behind-the-scenes communications:
Initial response
The shooting happened on July 26 around 6 p.m. outside the Seattle Center Armory, where thousands were gathered for a three-day food festival, Bite of Seattle.
At 6:07 p.m., then-Seattle police chief Shon Barnes texted Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis: “Multiple shooting victims. Shots fired at the Seattle Armory Center. Multiple gunshot wound victims. Two suspects are in custody.”
Then at 6:36 p.m., Davis sent a message to several other members of Seattle police saying, “7 shot. 2 deceased. Of the 5 transported, one is a toddler. Differing accounts of whether it’s gang-related or terrorist related. 1 of 2 suspects are in custody. I am headed in. Please give us time to get more info. As soon as I know more, I will share more”
Within 35 minutes of the shooting, SPD knew how many people had been killed and how many people had been hurt, but they were still working to figure out a motive.
The public and local media have heavily criticized the mayor’s office and SPD for waiting five hours after the shooting to hold a press conference to let the community know what had happened.
Leadership questions
At 6:50 p.m., Barnes texted Davis and other staffers: “I don’t know who is in charge, but someone needs to assume command and slow down then follow active shooter protocols.”
At 6:51 p.m., Davis responded, saying, “I am in charge, and Alison (Holcomb) is point with MOS (Mayor of Seattle). We will handle it for now.”
Barnes was at a conference in Texas when the shooting took place and was getting back to Seattle when he learned the news.
Delayed press conference and communication issues
At 9:36 p.m., Alison Holcomb, the public safety manager for the mayor’s office, messaged Davis, Barnes and Sarah Smith (SPD’s Chief Operating Officer), asking: “Is SPD doing a media availability tonight? If so, the mayor needs to be there.”
Smith responds: “Yes, it’s at 9:45. Calling Pritchard now.” Detective Brian Pritchard is part of Seattle police’s communications team.
Then at 9:38 p.m., Holcomb texted the group back saying: “Where, and how does mayor join? I’ve been keeping her away from the scene and HMC (Harborview Medical Center), but I don’t want media thinking she’s absent. She wants to know where to be?”
One minute later, Smith responds with “meet at the turn around at the Space Needle at EMP (now MoPOP). Go to 5th and Harrison.”
At 9:42 p.m., Holcomb responds to that message saying, “Mayor’s on her way. Please wait for her.”
You can see KIRO 7’s coverage of Mayor Wilson’s released messages here.
Seattle police communications showed they were planning for a 9:45 p.m. press conference.
At that time, Wilson’s office said she was not at the Seattle Center, but needed to be there whenever the press conference did happen.
At 9:56 p.m., Holcomb texted Davis, Pritchard and Smith, saying: “Mayor’s team is trying to find you and understand the format. Please send me details ASAP.”
Smith replies three minutes later: “Format is: mayor goes first for high-level comments. Tyrone Davis gives incident briefing, and then he takes minimal questions.”
“Should be short and focused only on key critical details. We need to make sure that folks know that information is still coming in and can change,” Smith also wrote.
Davis responded that SPD is in communication with her office at 10:02 p.m., past the planned 9:45 p.m. press conference, as each office was trying to figure out who would say what.
Some of the messages indicate that some in SPD command didn’t know they missed the planned time.
At 10:20 p.m., Barnes texted Smith again, asking: “What’s going on? I’m getting a message from Chief Shirley that there is no press conference.”
Smith responded, “One second for me to confirm. They were delayed because they were waiting for the mayor to arrive.”
A few minutes later, Smith wrote: “Sigh. Now they are waiting for the Governor to show up before they do it. So it’s gonna happen, but they’re still just waiting for him now.”
At 10:24 p.m., almost 40 minutes after that news conference was supposed to happen and nearly 4.5 hours after the shooting, Smith texted Pritchard saying: “Chief just texted me saying that the media availability didn’t happen?”
In text messages released earlier this month, Jonah Spangenthal, the city’s interim press secretary and internal communications manager, wrote: “It’s f****** embarrassing that SPD has waited HOURS to put anything out.”
Both offices seem to point the finger at the other over delayed information.
Alert Seattle, the city’s official emergency communications system, was not activated during the shooting because the police department, the mayor’s office, or the city could not decide whose job it was to start the system.
“It was everyone’s job and no one’s job,” Spangenthal wrote.
One chain of messages indicated that a press conference would happen at 9:45 p.m. (nearly four hours after shots rang out).
The press conference didn’t happen until after 10:45 p.m.
At the time, the media was told that officials were waiting for “dignitaries.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Ferguson were at the press conference.
You can read the full messages from SPD here.
KIRO 7 has reached out to the Governor’s Office for comment on how the timeline of events unfolded from his perspective.
We have also reached out to both Seattle police (SPD) and the mayor’s office.
SPD directed us to a blog post they released today for a statement (the blog post that included the initial release of messages), and the mayor’s office directed us to a statement that it issued two weeks ago.
Fixing communications going forward
Earlier this month, Wilson and current interim SPD chief Andre Sayles announced that both offices will be strengthening their public safety communication practices.
In a statement, Wilson said:
“The people of Seattle deserve clear, timely, and accountable communication from their government, and that work gets better today. Interim Chief Sayles and I have updated how we and our staff communicate. Going forward, we will be in direct contact during any significant event, and he will provide stability and leadership for the department as we search for a permanent chief.”
In a statement, Sayles said:
“It’s truly an honor to be called upon by the mayor to serve as Interim Police Chief, and I am deeply grateful for the confidence the people of Seattle have placed in me. Rest assured, I am committed to delivering meaningful results for everyone in our city.
To the community of Seattle: My focus is on ensuring this department is open and collaborative as we can possibly be. We are going to make sure we’re always here for you, working to build strong partnerships between officers and residents that will truly keep our community safe and thriving.”
Some of the key principles the offices relayed were:
- Public safety remains the top priority.
- Clear communication roles when SPD leads and when the Mayor’s Office participates.
- Transparent public updates through AlertSeattle, social media channels, and media briefings.
- Expectation of providing information to the media within one hour of a significant incident, when it’s safe and possible to do so. This will not delay earlier updates via AlertSeattle or social media channels.
- Coordinated staffing to ensure on-call command and communications personnel are always identified per SPD’s Senior Command and Mayor’s Office Crime Incident Notification Directive.
- Pre‑event coordination:
- SPD will brief the Mayor’s Office on activation plans, command structure, and communications leads.
- The Mayor’s Office will provide SPD and other emergency partners with lead policy, operational, and communications contacts for the event.
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