[SEATTLE] – (MTN) A protester was injured and arrested, another appears to have been struck, and the driver is under investigation after a car drove through a group of activists outside of the East Precinct at approximately 11 p.m. on Saturday.
A group of about 30 protesters marched from Cal Anderson Park and were protesting outside of the East Precinct at 12th and Pine. Seattle Police gave a dispersal order to the group around 10:20 PM, and they left without incident.
The group returned and blocked Pine and 12th and according to Detective Patrick Michaud of the Seattle Police Department, SPD decided to disengage with the protesters. Video from the traffic camera at the intersection, an independent journalist, and on Twitter showed several cars driving toward the intersection and turning around without incident.
According to eyewitness accounts, a white Toyota Camry driving east on Pine initially slowed at the dispersed group of protesters, appeared to start to turn around, and then lurched forward. One protester jumped up to avoid being struck and landed on the hood. Another protester appears to be struck while running out of the way. The driver then continued east on Pine until they were stopped by Seattle Police at 13th where the person on the hood was ejected.
Video from the scene shows a brigade of police officers on bikes blocking protesters and journalists from advancing further on Pine to where the car had been stopped.
Detective Michaud stated that the protester initially said they were uninjured, and then complained about a head injury. The driver was released from the scene and not cited, but the case has been referred to the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad, per department policy. There was no information provided on the condition of the second protester.
The person who ended up on the hood was ultimately arrested and booked into King County Jail with 3 charges including Pedestrian Interference, Reckless Endangerment, and Property Destruction.
There have been approximately two-dozen documented cases of cars driving through protests in Seattle since June 2020, sometimes with tragic results. On July 4 Summer Taylor was killed and Diaz Love was critically injured after Dawit Kelete drove down I-5 despite the highway being closed. Former Seattle police officer Molly Clark was documented driving through two different protests, and retired shortly after an investigation was announced. The OPA has recommended another Seattle police officer be disciplined for driving at protesters and up on the sidewalk on August 12, 2020.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) With a news helicopter overhead, approximately 250 people marched from the Central District to the Federal Court House on Stewart Street to recognize International Workers Day. Commonly known as May Day, the United States is one of only a handful of countries that does not recognize May first as a holiday.
Organizations representing unions, immigrants, worker’s rights, socialists, and politicians chanted and listened to speeches outside of Hing Hay Park and in front of the Federal Court House. Featured speakers included United States Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and King County Office of Equality and Social Justice advisor Hamdi Mohamed. Mohamed is running for Port of Seattle Commissioner, Position 3.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”45″ gal_title=”International Workers Day Seattle 2021″]
While speeches were being made outside the Federal Court House, another protest group that started on Capitol Hill came into the same area followed by Seattle Police. That group of protesters moved to 7th and Stewart, adjacent to the group with the Immigrant’s Rights March, separated by a civilian bike brigade. The Immigrant’s Rights March ended the speeches and left the area, while a stand-off between SPD bike officers and the other group, many in black bloc, squared off.
The group in bloc marched through Seattle including Pike Place Market. During our coverage, we did not witness any arrests or activity from the protesters. At least two independent media journalists reported being attacked earlier in the day. According to a report on KOMO, five people were arrested in that group. Historically, SPD has not followed groups in bloc into Cal Anderson Park at the end of a protest. It was reported that Seattle Police continued to follow the group into the park, and made four additional arrests.
Prior to COVID, the Annual May Day March would attract thousands that would march through downtown Seattle. Last year the march was canceled and this year was subdued. King County Health was at St. Mary’s Church in the Central District handing out masks to people.
Editor Note April 29, 2021, 10:40 AM: A previous version of this story identified Williams as a former real estate agent. That was in error. The story has been updated.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Ian Patrick Williams of Bothell, was booked into King County Jail on April 26 for investigation of homicide and as a suspect in the stabbing death of a 29-year-old Asian man in Bothell. Williams is being held without bail and a date for arraignment has not been set by King County prosecutors.
According to KIRO news, Williams gave the middle finger to two unidentified Asian men who live in the same apartment building just outside of the entrance. The stabbing victim reportedly said, “what is wrong with you,” and Williams lunged at him with a knife, stabbing him fatally in the heart. Bystanders and police tried in vain to save the victim.
Bothell Police will not say if they are investigating this as a hate crime. Williams was arrested moments after the attack and apparently made no statement to police or bystanders.
Williams is a computer science student in their senior year. He is being held at King County Jail for investigation of second degree murder.
[KIRKLAND] – (MTN) A Washington state man pleaded guilty today to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Cameron Shea, 25, a leader of the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division, pled guilty to federal conspiracy and hate crime charges for threatening journalists and advocates who worked to expose anti-Semitism. Shea was arrested on February 26, 2020, in Kirkland, Washington outside of the Totem Lake Fred Meyers where he worked. The FBI made the arrest with support from the Kirkland police department.
CAMERON SHEA NEO-NAZII AND WHAT IS ATOMWAFFEN
Shea pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit three offenses against the United States: interference with federally-protected activities because of religion; mailing threatening communications; and cyberstalking. He also pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with a federally protected activity because of religion.
Shea and three co-conspirators were charged with conspiring via an encrypted online chat group to identify journalists and advocates they wanted to threaten in retaliation for the victims’ work exposing anti-Semitism. The group focused primarily on those who are Jewish or journalists of color. The group created posters, which featured Nazi symbols, masked figures with guns and Molotov cocktails, and threatening messages, to deliver or mail to the journalists or advocates the group targeted. Local KING 5 reporter Chris Ingalls did several reports on Atomwaffen and was a target of the organization.
Shea will be sentenced on June 28 and faces up to 15 years in prison.
Rodney Reese, 18, was arrested on February 16 for walking in the road in Plano, Texas
Someone called 911 to report a Black man stumbling along in the middle of a snow-covered street wearing a short-sleeve shirt and they requested a welfare check
Reese repeatedly told officers he was fine and he was walking home from work, police continued to follow him for two-minutes despite denying any aid and then told him he would be detained
Officers accuse Reese of resisting arrest but elected not to charge him, and instead charged him with a misdemeanor, being a pedestrian walking in the roadway and arrested him
The acting police chief had the charges dropped, saying officers had no cause to stop or detain Reese based on the reason for the call and his response.
PLANO, Texas — A misdemeanor charge has been dropped against a Black man who was arrested last week for walking home on a street during a snowstorm in Texas.
Rodney Reese, 18, was arrested Feb. 16 in Plano and charged with being a pedestrian in the roadway, news outlets reported.
[MOUNT VERNON] – (MTN) Bail was set for $500,000 for Angela Marie Conjin in Skagit County Superior Court this morning. Conjin is accused of shooting a 32-year-old Arlington woman over an altercation involving a political sign for Loren Culp.
According to the Skagit County Sheriff’s department, John Conjin, the husband of Angela Conjin, told authorities he saw a suspicious vehicle that he thought could be involved in mail theft. He went outside to confront the occupants and an argument ensued. Mr. Conjin claims he got into a physical altercation with the driver of the truck, that continued to his front porch, and there was an attempt to steal the campaign sign. The female passenger of the pickup truck got out of the vehicle, and at about the same Ms. Conjin emerged from the home with a firearm, firing several shots. The 32-year-old woman who was killed had not been involved in the earlier physical interaction.
The man in the pickup claims he was punched by Mr. Conjin through an open window before engaging in a further altercation.
Police arrested John Conjin for assault in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor, and arrested Angela Conjin for investigation of second-degree murder. Mr. Conjin has been released, while Ms. Conjin was formally charged on Tuesday afternoon and is still in Skagit County Jail.
Police have not identified the other man who fought with Mr. Conjin, nor if he will face any criminal charges. Authorities have not identified the name of the 32-year old victim. Malcontent News has the name but is withholding it pending confirmed notification to the next of kin.
Public records show Anglea Conjin was a teacher’s aide for the Sedro-Wooley School District. In 2019 she trained to be a hairstylist and started working for La Conner Hair Design. Calls and messages to La Conner Hair Design went unanswered. Investigators have not released the nature of the political sign, but a report from Seattle TV station KING 5, indicates it was a Loren Culp Sign. Loren Culp lost the gubernatorial election in Washington state by 545,000 votes but refused to concede and made baseless allegations of fraud without evidence. Public records show Conjin is a registered Republican in the state of Washington.
UPDATED: February 16, 2021 @ 11:38 PM – neighbors are reporting it was a Loren Culp sign, and not a Donald Trump sign
[MOUNT VERNON] – (MTN) A 32-year-old Arlington woman is dead, and her assailant is in Skagit County jail under investigation for her murder. Skagit County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 55-year old Angela Marie Conjin on second-degree murder charges and her husband John for fourth-degree assault. Anglea Conjin is being held without bail pending her first hearing. Conjin is accused of shooting the 32-year old victim to death after her husband and another man allegedly got into a fight over a Loren Culp sign that was in Conjin’s yard.
According to goskagit.com, deputies responded to a 911 call on Saturday around 5:30 PM, reporting a fight in progress. As deputies were en route, they received another 911 call stating a person had been shot at the same address.
Deputies arrived to find the 32-year-old Arlington woman dead in the driveway. According to a statement made by the sheriff’s department, officers spoke with the home occupants and arrested the couple without incident. Conjin’s first court appearance scheduled for today was canceled. The Skagit County Prosector’s Office reported that charges were filed today using a committee magistrate warrant, and Conjin will have her first hearing on Wednesday at 8:30 AM. Brett Purtzer of Tacoma is her attorney and has a history of taking cases where defendants plead self-defense or mental anguish.
Public records show Anglea Conjin was a teacher’s aide for the Sedro-Wooley School District. In 2019 she trained to be a hairstylist and started working for La Conner Hair Design. Calls and messages to La Conner Hair Design went unanswered. Investigators have not released the nature of the political sign, but a report from Seattle TV station KING 5, indicates it was a Loren Culp Sign. Loren Culp lost the gubernatorial election in Washington state by 545,000 votes but refused to concede and made baseless allegations of fraud without evidence. Public records show Conjin is a registered Republican in the state of Washington.
Conjin’s background indicates she has had financial troubles in the past, including a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but has no prior criminal record.
You can read our latest update by clicking this link.
Activists question tactics in hotel raid over the weekend
WARNING: This report shows scenes of protest and police action against children. Viewer discretion is advised.
[OLYMPIA] – (Malcontent News) On the surface, the story is altruistic, and the visuals awful. Following in the footsteps of activists in Tacoma, an organization calling itself Oly Housing paid for 17 rooms on Saturday to place unhomed persons at a Red Lion Hotel in Olympia, Washington. Just as in Tacoma, the plan was to pay for one night and demand that city and county officials continue to pay for the rooms. On Sunday evening, a massive police response met activists where families, including small children, were removed by SWAT officers who threw flash-bang grenades into hotel rooms. As time has gone by, a clearer picture has emerged, raising questions from all sides.
On Saturday, activists engaged with some of the local unhomed in the downtown Olympia area to have them occupy the rooms. Thirty-three people, including children, agreed to accept the offer. Being unhomed is a challenge any time of the year, but rain, cold, harassment, and rats have made the encampments in Olympia untenable.
As checkout time came and went on Sunday, the property appeared calm. Protesters made demands for better sanitary facilities at encampments, permanent government housing solutions for those making less than $26,200 a year, for Thurston County to use available FEMA dollars to continue paying for the hotel rooms, and an end to sweeping homeless encampments. In a report from the Olympian, about a dozen people were sitting in the hotel’s lobby looking at their phones and reading magazines.
By the time sunset arrived, something had gone wrong. At about 6 PM, hotel staff called the police, reporting they had locked themselves in a basement room, were in fear for their safety, and armed protesters had taken over the lobby. There were unconfirmed reports of blacked-out windows and mattresses used for barricades. At 6:30 PM, Capitol Way in Olympia was closed, and SWAT teams rolled in with a heavy police presence. Law enforcement swept the hotel floor by floor, deploying multiple flash-bang grenades and making seven arrests. Video from the scene showed a woman with her two children, one swaddled in blankets, leaving the hotel under police guard while activists taunted officers.
On Monday, a press conference about the events wavered between reality and absurdity. Officials initially danced around the police tactics questions until finally admitting the use of “a couple” of devices to clear the hotel. Eyewitness reports, including reporters on the scene, reported more than a “couple” of blasts coming from inside the hotel. The statements of blacked-out windows and mattress barricades didn’t materialize in the conference either (nor were they denied).
What has emerged in the 48-hours since the raid is universal outrage. Local advocates for the unhomed are outraged over the tactics of Oly Housing. Supporters of Oly Housing are outraged over what they perceive as a false narrative aligned with the police and mainstream media and a lack of focus on tactics. Some of the unhomed are outraged, feeling they were used and weren’t fully informed of the legal jeopardy they could face. City and county officials are frustrated because the FEMA dollars for emergency housing were just made available by the new Biden Administration, in place for less than two weeks, and they were already in the process of applying for the money.
Right-wing groups are outraged at the perception of “Antifa” (an ideology and philosophy, not an organization) going unchecked and police not responding with enough violence against protesters. Many are questioning the police response to unhomed persons taking over a hotel, in contrast to the police response on January 6, when about 100 right-wing protesters stormed the broke through a gate, assaulted a state police recruit on live television, and stormed to the front door of the governor’s mansion. No one has been arrested in that incident despite overwhelming evidence of multiple crimes.
Long time Thurston County area advocate Renata Rollins lamented the fallout in a Facebook post. In her post, she called out activists within Housing Oly who were arrested on Sunday being represented by private attornies, while public defenders represented the unhomed. Working for over a decade in housing, she pointed out that Olympia had ended sweeps of homeless encampment like those done in Seattle and Bellingham two years ago, and the county already provides trash dumpsters and sanitary stations at the encampments. Trash pickup and dumpsters are not offered to the unhomed in cities like Seattle. While recognizing not enough is being done she wrote, “The group’s demands made no sense. They read like they were copy-pasted from some other community’s struggle because whoever penned them had no concept or context for what’s actually going on in Olympia and Thurston County.“
In contrast, activists engaged in direct action believe that not enough is being done to support the unhomed, which has grown in 2020 due to COVID and living in conditions that only further spread the disease. They believe the government establishment serves corporate America and the wealthy and views the unhomed as disposable. Representative of the political horseshoe formed versus a straight line, some within the direct action groups believe that only the use of force will change the system.
Established activists in the South Sound have expressed growing frustration with direct action groups’ tactics in January. A protest led by outside groups in Tacoma over a police cruiser driving through a group of people earlier in the month led to broken windows and graffiti in a Black neighborhood. In that incident, local activists blamed outsiders from Seattle, Olympia, and Portland for the damage.
The challenges facing the unhomed are undeniable. The failures to address homelessness at federal, state, county, and local levels should not be thrown at local activists’ feet. Further north in King County, enough private and public funds are spent addressing houselessness to solve the problem, with little effect. The connections of addiction and mental illness to homelessness are undeniable. Despite campaign promises from the Trump Administration to address the opioid epidemic, 34-million Americans abuse or are addicted to dangerous drugs. King County just experienced its highest number of overdose deaths ever. Washington state continues to be one of the worst states in the country for mental health treatment.
What is reality is that most of the 33 people who occupied hotel rooms on Saturday night are back out on the street, living in squalid conditions with minimal support.
Journalists, activists, and researchers defending the First Amendment
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