The man at the center of a massive SWAT response that shut down Broadway in late June is not facing charges in the incident.
CHS reported here on the police report from the June 28th early evening dispute that sent shoppers fleeing from the QFC and the 400-block Broadway Market shopping center.
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According to police, the armed standoff stemmed from a dispute between a gym patron and a man who reportedly wanted to use the restroom at Pacific Northwest Fitness. Witnesses said the dispute escalated as the man took out a handgun and held the other man on the floor at gunpoint. Meanwhile, word spread quickly through the shopping center and patrons cleared the building as police and SWAT arrived and closed down the area.
According to the police report, the standoff played out between the police and SWAT officers and the two men who refused to budge even after the gun was dropped to the ground between them. The gun, it turns out, also was not loaded.
The man was arrested but released from jail on his own recognizance.
The King County Prosecutor’s office says the case has not been sent to them for charges.
We’ve asked Seattle Police for more information. UPDATE: SPD says the case has been referred to the Seattle City Attorney for possible misdemeanor charges. We’ll check in with that office to learn more.
UPDATE 8/8/2023: The city attorney’s office says it also will not bring charges after the case was “declined for proof reasons.”
Another day in the life of a Lawless consequenceless society
He held a man hostage with a gun. What is the logic behind releasing him with NO charges?
WHAT?!?!?!?!? Unbelievable
He terrorized a neighborhood for over an hour as people were forced to shelter in place or held in neighboring businesses with no real options but sit and wait things out.
None of this matters to our modern criminal justice system, apparently.
We may not have a civil society but at least we have “equity”
Wonder if this would be the same case if victim wasn’t unhoused. The whole damn block was evacuated and no charges?!
Throw the book at him Ann!! What a waste of everyone’s and the city’s time and resources spent on one jackhole wielding a gun!! Consequences for him please!
If he gets off without any charges whatsoever then this city really does give criminals free reign. He overreacted in a dispute and pulled a gun in a busy shopping center and held a man hostage how is that not a chargeable crime?
It’s obvious that charges should be brought for this serious crime (it’s irrelevant that the gun was not loaded). And why was bail not required?
Does it make me a right wing proud boy that I am against the crazy guy wielding a gun to use the toilet at the gym
The gym member pulled the gun, not the homeless guy who wanted to use the bathroom.