Thanks to a CHS reader for this picture from the scene
The 24-year-old shot dead at an E John bus stop early Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill has been identified but few details have been publicly released in the shooting as authorities complete their investigation and weigh any charges in the case.
The King County Medical Examiner’s office says the 24-year-old has been identified as Jayson Williams. Williams died early Tuesday after being shot in reported self defense during an attempted armed robbery at 10th and John.
Investigators say Williams died of multiple gunshot wounds. Arriving officers reported the 24-year-old down and shot in the stomach, according to East Precinct radio reports from the night. He was pronounced dead by the time he was taken to Harborview by Seattle Fire. A second male involved in the alleged stick-up reportedly fled on foot and was not injured by the gunfire.
Police have not publicly identified the 39-year-old. Police say the man told officers Williams was attempting to rob him and his partner when he opened fire in the 1:15 AM incident. According to police radio updates, the partner of the man who shot Williams called 911 following the shooting and said they had been held up at gunpoint. Police have not said if a second firearm was recovered at the scene. UPDATE: A person with knowledge of the investigation says a second gun was recovered at the scene.
Witnesses said Williams was Black and the man who shot and killed him is white.
A Seattle Police Department spokesperson said the department will provide details of its investigation and possible criminal charges to the King County Prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors will decide whether any charges will be filed. A spokesperson for the prosecutor said the case had not been sent to the office for a charging decision as of Thursday night.
There were few details immediately available about Williams who did not appear to have criminal convictions in the city or state. A Jayson Williams with matching age was booked in June for assault and obstruction in a domestic violence case but no charges were filed. Because of privacy restrictions around domestic violence, there was no public information immediately available about the case.
Some witnesses at the shooting scene expressed concern about how long it took for Seattle Fire to be able to provide aid to Williams who was not transported to Harborview until about 25 minutes after police arrived.
A Seattle Fire spokesperson said it is “procedure to wait for the scene to be secured by law enforcement before responding in” but there was little to no delay due to that process. According to SFD records, the Fire Alarm Center received a call reporting the shooting at 1:13 AM and units arrived at the scene by 1:18 AM. Seattle Fire says SPD gave the go ahead to enter the shooting scene a minute later earlier and that Williams was prepared for transport to Harborview by 1:37 AM. UPDATE: We have clarified SFD’s arrival time as 1:18 AM and updated this description.
“While we can’t provide specifics about treatment provided due to patient privacy, we can tell you that when patients are in critical condition they often need to be stabilized at the scene prior to transport,” the SFD spokesperson said. “Transporting a patient while they are still unstable can cause more harm than good. Additionally, medics are trained to perform various life-saving procedures for patients prior to transport (which cannot all be done during transport). Spending 20 minutes at the scene to treat a patient prior to transport is not uncommon.”
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The AP Stylebook, which you say CHS Blog follows, has guidelines on race-related coverage. It says “Consider carefully when deciding whether to identify people by race. Often, it is an irrelevant factor and drawing unnecessary information to someone’s race or ethnicity can be interpreted as bigotry. There are, however, occasions when race is pertinent.” It goes on to say that one of these occasions is “In cases where suspects or missing persons are being sought, and the descriptions provided are detailed and not solely racial. Any racial reference should be removed when the individual is apprehended or found.”
The AP Stylebook also says “In other situations when race is an issue, use news judgment. Include racial or ethnic details only when they are clearly relevant and that relevance is explicit in the story.”
The style guide you say you use contradicts your usage of race-related information in the stories you’ve posted about this incident. Why is that?
Journalists are in theory supposed to be reporting in such a way that is free of their own agendas, they speak of standards and integrity, how their role is essential in a modern world, and when they do such a good job at exposing the truth states will go after them. Yet, how can you reconcile that with the fact publications are openly for one political view or another? They go so far as to even make recommendations on what politicians to vote for. At which point, what was this integrity about? Likewise they’re not providing a public service outside of the realm of economic influence either, they’re selling a product, and again, how does that square with what they chose to write and publish? Bias is something subtle, it’s either accidental due to a lack of awareness, or just a slight pressure from a thumb on the scale; but journalists are not biased IMO, they’re closer to being manipulative as you’re pointing out. If they didn’t talk of their lofty standards and high importance, perhaps there would be some reasonable excuse, in the same way we have our judges in our highest courts that are also political. But journalists are nearly just cogs in a political product, and serve little more as amplifiers and drones of what ever political psychosis they’re minds are saturated with like anyone else. It’s not as honorable as they’d like you to believe.
“Consider carefully”. Are you presuming they did not consider this carefully? The person shot and killed was a Black person. Unless you’ve been asleep for the past few hundred years you would be very aware that Black people are murdered by white people in our society, often with very little scrutiny. We should all be vigilant about making sure stories like this are followed up on. So far, this story appears to have been what it was; a robbery where a victim used a weapon in self defense, killing a Black man. I live down the street from where this incident took place and I damn well sure do not want people being shot and killed because of their race. This publication is doing a great service to our community by keep us all up to date on this story.
Is it better to be shot and killed because someone wants your truck, phone or thinks you have money?
Right, if someone pulls a gun on you, you have to assume they’re going to use it regardless if you give them what they want or not.
The point is that the commenter wants to hassle the writer about calling attention to race in this story and not immediately assume the responsibility we all have to be vigilant when we hear stories of Black people being killed in our society. No one said anything about what you’re talking about you need to quit playing around too.
How do you know what was being taking at the seen cause it was never mention at all in the news artical
U know to much about the killing who are you
Oh his family is investigating on this we want camera videos and all then it took 25 mins for medics to arrive thats bs we want to see all evidence they have the weapon and all this wont be a white kills black male and get away with it this time it happens to often and no im not black im byracial white mom black dad so i have a little of both worlds this is his aunt speaking out i lost without my nephew my sister is hurt behind this