A legal action has been initiated against the city of Seattle, including former and current city officials, on behalf of Robert West, an African American teenager who was the only survivor of a shooting incident that took place in Seattle's notorious "autonomous zone."
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The lawsuit alleges that the city failed to protect him by permitting "numerous acts of violence" during the summer of 2020.
The lawsuit implicates former mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, councilmember Kshama Sawant, known for her Marxist leanings, and fire chief Harold Scoggins.
West's attorney, Evan Oshan, stated that West and his friend Antonio Mays Jr. were trying to flee the barricaded zone on June 29, 2020. This incident occurred nine days after another teenager, Lorenzo Anderson, was fatally shot in the same area. This was the fourth shooting during the existence of the zone in Seattles Capitol Hill.
Mays Jr. was killed in the incident, and West, who was 15 years old at the time, sustained permanent and debilitating injuries, including the loss of an eye and the removal of a portion of his skull.
The complaint filed in King County Superior Court states, Robert West was enticed into the CHOP area by Mayor Durkins positive remarks about the area on television. He went to CHOP intending to participate in what he believed to be a peaceful protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Regrettably, Mr. West soon discovered that CHOP was far from peaceful."
Oshan further added, Despite being aware of the violence and chaos, Seattle leaders failed Robert West and the other residents of CHOP. The summer of love inevitably became the summer of blood.'"
The lawsuit points out that the zone was governed by a Seattle-based rapper named Raz Simone, who self-proclaimed himself as the 'Warlord' of the area. He was widely recognized as the de facto police chief by authorities and even established a makeshift civilian police force, arming them with AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles.
The lawsuit alleges that authorities failed to exert control over the zone or prevent Simone from distributing weapons to his makeshift police force. It also accuses Durkan, Best, and Scoggins of collaborating with him.
The lawsuit also implicates Sawant, stating she encouraged the CHOP participants to engage in lawfulness, and used her office to open the doors of city hall to protestors.
The lawsuit quotes Defendant Durkan, who accused Sawant of using her office in violation of the law in a manner that 'recklessly undermines the safety of others, all for political theater,'" adding that "Defendant Sawants actions were so egregious that she faced recall charges.
Earlier this year, a federal judge imposed sanctions against the city for deleting thousands of text messages between Seattle officials, including Durkan, Best, and Scoggins during the armed Antifa and BLM occupation. Following the ruling, the city settled a lawsuit with business owners for $3.6 million who claimed the deadly autonomous zone violated their constitutional rights and caused damage to their property.
Three years after the incident, no arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.
Best informed the media in a press conference after the shooting, It is abundantly clear to our detectives that people have been in and out of the car after the shooting.
In February 2021, The Post Millennial disclosed that a man named Daniel Alan Baker had discussed tampering with the scene on social media.
Baker, a US Army veteran-turned-Syrian militia member, who attempted to rally far-left activists to surround pro-Trump protesters with guns at the Florida state Capitol in January, was sentenced in October 2021 to 44 months in jail followed by three years of federal supervision.
During an interview with The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Oshan said the investigation into the shooting and Bakers possible involvement would continue. We got to bring him back. We got to bring him back for the Robert West case. We got to bring him back to the Antonio Mays Jr. case. We got to bring him back and we got to hold him accountable we need to gather evidence and information which has not been brought forward.
Oshan described the ongoing investigation as a peeling the onion event, implying that they would have to keep uncovering layers of information to see where they lead.
To date, Seattle has settled claims amounting to millions of dollars as a result of the zone.
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