SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson plans to announce a new executive order Thursday. According to her office, the goal is to strengthen the city’s emergency management coordination, preparedness, and planning.
The announcement comes nearly two months after the deadly mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle event.
According to internal messages released yesterday by the Seattle Police Department, officials waited about five hours to let the community know what happened.
The messages show confusion over whether the mayor’s office or police department was taking the lead on getting information out about the shooting.
>> You can see KIRO 7’s coverage of the Seattle Police Department’s released messages here.
Three people died at the July 26 event held at Seattle Center, including one of the suspected shooters. Four others, including a 2-year-old boy, were hurt.
Throughout the night, the mayor’s team seemed both aware that the public and the media had noticed the delay in communications, and frustrated with it themselves.
“This is a massive f******* disaster,” one staffer wrote, calling the incident “a hit to public trust.”
>> You can see KIRO 7’s coverage of Mayor Wilson’s released messages here.
According to the mayor’s office, today’s executive order is designed to improve coordination and information-sharing among the Seattle Office of Emergency Management, Seattle Police Department (SPD), and Seattle Fire Department.
The announcement is expected later this morning.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.
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