Residents safe after Seattle police de-escalate hostage situation at Capitol Hill grocery store

SEATTLE — Residents in Seattle are safe Wednesday after Seattle Police de-escalated a hostage situation. It happened just after 6:40 p.m. Police say a man was armed above a QFC shopping center on Broadway East in Capitol Hill.

One mom describes how she was grocery shopping with her daughter when she saw a man with a gun.

“She said ‘Mom he has a gun.’ [I] look back and there was a male holding another male hostage at gunpoint,” she says.

She says she believes the man was pleading for his life, as the gunman continued to point his weapon.

“He made him get on his knees and then made him lay down,” she says. “So I started filming, I covered my daughter, and we were escorted out of the store.”

Seattle Police arrived and began escorting people out of the QFC and the upstairs PNW Gym.

“Our hostage negotiation team did a great job talking him down and getting him to comply. And then our swat team was able to take him into custody,” says Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz.

Police confirmed that a 42-year-old man was taken into custody and that everyone at the scene was safe.

One witness tells KIRO 7, that gun violence feels inevitable in Seattle.

“You never know when it’s gonna happen. And today was the day that it happened,” says Alicia, who was escorted out of QFC during the standoff.

This comes less than two weeks after Chief Diaz announced a new community task force to curb Seattle’s violence, noting that gun violence often increases during the summer months.

“Men or women, if you are selling drugs and are committing crimes with a gun, Seattle police are coming for you,” Diaz said at the time. “We will arrest you and hold you accountable.”

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