[SEATTLE] – (MTN) The Seattle Police Department has reported a man is dead after an officer-involved shooting on Alaskan Way and University along the waterfront. Video of the scene showed a large police presence during the ongoing investigation. The police scanner records indicate officers were called to engage with a suicidal man who had a knife. The man started to approach the officers and he was shot. A Public Information Officer stated the man was shot by two officers, was white, and was declared dead at the scene.
STATEMENT BY SEATTLE POLICE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER V. CARLSON
According to a transcript of Seattle Police radio traffic, Seattle police officers were responding to a call of a suicidal man at 9:19 PM. A minute later, officers requested a unit with “40mm,” which would a less-lethal device. At 9:22 radio traffic indicated police has spotted the individual by the cruise dock and had a knife in his left hand. At 9:23 PM police stated, “shots fired, suspect down.”
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.
Records show Wheeler was shot with beanbag rounds in 2015 in response to a domestic violence report
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Former Seattle Seahawk player Chad Wheeler remains out on $400,000 bail for a savage domestic violence attack last month. Records show that this isn’t the first time Wheeler has committed domestic violence, and his mental illness was used as a defense.
The Los Angeles Times reported that in December 2015, while Wheeler was the starting left tackle at USC, police were called after he punched walls and windows, and barricade himself in an apartment with a 20-year-old woman and her son. Ignoring police instructions, law enforcement officers had to fire bean bag rounds at the 6’7″ tall, 315-pound wheeler to subdue him. He was detained by police and then taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Alleah Taylor in an exclusive interview with CBS This Morning, shared by Malcontent News, told a harrowing tale of the attack that has left her with metal plates in her body and with a closed head injury. In the interview, she described pleading for her life and with an out of control Wheeler.
The NFL has struggled to address the organization’s handling of domestic violence among its players, with uneven enforcement of the code of conduct. Both the Seattle Seahawks and NFL expressed empathy for the victim Taylor while taking a softer approach on Wheeler in part because his contract with the Seahawks ended on December 31, 2021.
If you are experiencing domestic violence you can visit the National Domestic Violence website, or call 800-799-SAFE (7233). If you do visit their site or make a call, be sure to clear your browser and call history for your safety.
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) One woman is dead, and another is fighting for her life after being shot last night. Seattle police received 911 calls about shots being fired in the 2300 block of Massachusetts Street, adjacent to the African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center by Jimi Hendrix Park.
A Seattle police spokeswoman stated that the police heard gunfire upon arrival and waited for additional units to arrive before advancing into the scene. According to witnesses, including those we spoke to, they saw a gunman firing multiple shots. One individual stated Seattle police “swarmed” an armed person and shot him. Seattle police claim there was an exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who was hit multiple times.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”22″ gal_title=”Jimi Hendrix Park Shooting”]
Officers secured the scene and found two shooting victims about a block away in a vehicle. Both women were transferred to Harborview Medical Center, where one remains in critical condition. The other woman died from multiple gunshot wounds while in transit to the hospital.
Multiple people have identified the person shot by Seattle police as Gregory Taylor. Seattle police stated that Taylor knew the two shooting victims and that this was not a random attack. Taylor’s next of kin was notified at the shooting scene shortly after arriving
After the shooting, several protesters arrived at the scene, which police had secured. Family members and others asked through social media for the protesters to leave. A small memorial was set up in Jimi Hendrix Park with candles and chalk art.
Tensions between the Seattle Police Department and the public are high after months of social justice protests, motivated by George Floyd’s death. The Seattle police have had to walk back claims of IEDs used by protesters, untrue accusations of extortion in CHOP over the summer, and multiple uses of force claims against the department. Since Adrian Diaz has become the Acting Chief, four officers have been fired for violating department policy. These incidents have worked against community trust, along with an extensive history of biased policing in BIPOC neighborhoods. The Seattle Police Department has been operating under a federal consent decree for almost a decade.
The Force Investigation Team is investigating the officer-involved shooting. On their blog, Seattle police stated they would release body cam video within 72 hours, per department policy.
UPDATE: Please read our updated story by clicking this link
[SEATTLE] – (MTN) The Seattle police department has reported an officer-involved shooting in the 2300 block of Massachusetts Street, adjacent to the African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center. There are multiple officers on the scene and images from an independent journalist show a body draped in a sheet on the ground behind crime scene tape.
A Seattle Public Information Officer stated that Seattle Police were responding to 911 reports of shots fired in the area at 9:15 PM. When police arrived at the African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center they heard shots being fired. Officers moved in and witnessed a single suspect, who the public information officer states fired at the officers. Multiple Seattle police officers returned fire, striking the suspect, who died on the scene. The person shot by Seattle police has been identified, but we have chosen to withhold the name at this time.
Officers found two additional shooting victims in an adjacent parking lot who had been shot multiple times. Both have been transferred to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Q13 Fox is reporting that one female is at Harborview in critical condition. The two shooting victims were shot by the suspect according to Seattle police. Seattle police report that they believe that the assailant and the two victims knew each other, and this was not a random shooting.
Seattle Police were responding to some kind of disturbance or report in the area, and a single officer is reported to have been involved in the shooting. Multiple reports on social media are indicating the person shot is a resident of the Urban League
Malcontent News has a team member en route and the Seattle Police Department is reporting that a Public Information Officer will be available for questions. This is a breaking news situation and we will provide updates.
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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