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by KOMO News Staff
SEATTLE — The text messages that circulated within the Seattle Police Department after the mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle were released Wednesday.
SPD released the messages a week after Mayor Katie Wilson’s office disclosed a series of texts detailing what her staff knew in the early minutes after the July 26 mass shooting.
ALSO SEE | Texts show officials struggled to share info on Bite of Seattle shooting as public waited
An initial message sent shortly after 6 p.m. on July 26th said shots had been fired at the Seattle Armory Center and that multiple people had suffered gunshot wounds. It said two suspects were in custody.
A message from the then police chief, who was out of town at the time of the shooting, asked who was in charge and said the department should follow active shooter protocol.
"I don’t know who is in charge, but someone needs to assume command and slow down, then follow active shooter protocols," the then police chief Shon Barnes said.
At least two people opened fire during the Bite of Seattle event, leaving multiple victims.
A later preliminary update said two people appeared to have been shooting at each other, but seven people attending the event were struck by bullets.
The message said three people died — two at the scene and one at Harborview Medical Center.
The update said four additional victims were at Harborview and one was at UW Medical Center’s main campus, all in stable condition. It said one victim was 2 years old and also was in stable condition.
Police said officers already working at the event immediately provided lifesaving aid and treated the injured.
Dozens of officers and detectives were processing the scene, according to the message.
The department said detectives were questioning a person of interest believed to be one of the two people who fired rounds. The message described the investigation as active and long.
The messages include communications from the following personnel:
The messages are broken into groups by the individual sending/receiving them and are in chronological order, beginning just before the initial reports of the incident. There are also redactions of victim names, dates of birth, home addresses, and phone numbers of both victims and police officials to protect privacy.
The full release of messages can be found here.
The Department is still waiting for Chief Shon Barnes’ text messages to be prepared, and the department said they would release them when they are completely recovered from his account.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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