Police say witness accounts from the 12th and Spruce encampment where a man was killed early Saturday helped lead them to a suspect in the shooting that detectives believe involved a deadly dispute over an electric scooter.

The King County Medical Examiner has identified the slain man as 39-year-old Carl Hatfield.

Monday, a King County Superior Court judge found probable cause to hold the suspect in the case. Police and SWAT took the 30-year-old into custody without incident Saturday afternoon at another nearby encampment after witnesses identified him to detectives. CHS is not identifying the suspect until prosecutors file charges.

According to the Seattle Police Department report on the 4:30 AM shooting, witnesses told police the victim was hanging out in the 12th and Spruce encampment’s “community tent” when a man identified as “Bender” arrived trying to sell an electric scooter he was riding. According to police, a dispute began as Hatfield asked if he remembered him and said Bender had previously stolen his phone.

Police say witness accounts differed but described a physical confrontation between the men eventually involving the electric scooter. One witness told police Hatfield was headed to his nearby apartment after he beat Bender and took the scooter. The witness said Hatfield was riding the scooter when he was shot and killed.

CHS reported here on the deadly shooting as police found the victim down with a gunshot wound to the abdomen on E Spruce just south of the juvenile detention and court campus. Seattle Fire crews arrived at 12th and Spruce about 10 minutes later to treat the victim and transport him to Harborview where he was declared dead.

Witness accounts reported the suspect left the scene on the scooter after the shooting, according to East Precinct radio updates.

According to police, detectives were able to identify Bender that afternoon and track him down at a nearby encampment where he was taken into custody.

Police say the handgun used in the shooting has not been found.

Hatfield’s killing was the first homicide in the East Precinct recorded in 2025. CHS reported here on the 14 murders investigated in the precinct in 2024. There have been no announced arrests in ten of those cases.

Hatfield leaves behind a family and children, according to social media posts.

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