Mays Jr.
A CHS reader shared this image from the night Mays Jr. was shot and killed on 12th Ave (Image: CHS)
UPDATE 10/31/2025 9:00 AM: The trial date in the case has again been pushed back and is now scheduled for December. In the meantime, the city is continuing its motions in efforts to have the case dismissed.
Original report: Documents and records unearthed as part of a lawsuit against the City of Seattle over the killing of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. inside a Jeep Cherokee that had been driven at high speeds through the 2020 CHOP protest camp have revealed new details of the unsolved homicide.
The suit is scheduled to go to trial next week as the two sides argue over final decisions on testimony and expert witnesses. In one recent filing, City Attorney Ann Davison has asked the court to reject the defense’s witness responsible for establishing a monetary value for the teen’s life. Similar lawsuits were settled by the city before trials began.
The deadly shooting — one of two killings of Black teens in the camp — came early on a Monday morning amid a night of drive-by shooting fears around the protest zone.
The explosion of gunfire left Mays Jr. dead. His teen companion in the vehicle survived but suffered a brain injury. It was a final straw as Seattle Police stormed the protest encampments and cleared the area two days later.
No suspects have been publicly identified in the case.
More than five years later, a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Antonio Mays Sr. has revealed details and corroborated accounts of the confusion and panic that led to the 16-year-old’s death and how the Seattle Police Department stood by in the hours following the shooting.
Documents and video provided to the Seattle Times and KUOW from the 2023-filed wrongful death lawsuit adds new details of the confusion within the camp on the night and how SPD did not enter the camp zone until hours after the shooting.
Few details on the shooting have emerged since the first reports on the killing. Here is CHS’s report on the slaying when Mays Jr. was first identified on June 30th:
CHS reported on a night of driveby fears and uncertainty as at least one SUV style vehicle sped across Cal Anderson and through the protest camp before the confrontation on 12th Ave that ended in bloodshed. 911 callers reported a person shooting into a vehicle that had crashed along 12th Ave just after 3 AM.
Seattle Police again did not immediately enter the protest zone area but were able to collect some evidence when one of the victims was taken to a nearby rendezvous point to be transported by Seattle Fire to Harborview.
The crashed jeep, a bullet hole in its windshield and badly damaged, was reportedly rifled through by people at the camp where it stood on 12th Ave near E Pine but SPD eventually entered the scene to collect evidence in the hours following the shooting.
This week’s reporting from the Times and KUOW adds new details about the driveby panic that appears to have been set off by a joy ride.
For the lawsuit, the Times and KUOW report the evidence could foil the city’s defense that Mays was committing a felony crime at the time of his slaying. The new details could also help sort out what happened that tragic night and someday help bring justice in the case.
Among the findings is evidence showing the silver Toyota used by camp security volunteers to try to rush Mays to the hospital after the shooting was the same vehicle used in the pursuit of Mays and his companion Robert West as the Jeep sped through the area around the camp.
“It’s unknown who was inside the Pathfinder — also reported stolen — shooting at Mays and 14-year-old West, another occupant of the Jeep, though a video shows someone in a white shirt or hoodie firing what appears to be a handgun at the Jeep from the Pathfinder’s rear passenger window, while another person in a gray hoodie shoots a long gun from the front passenger-side window,” the Times reports.
Initial reports of SPD’s refusal to enter the scene and secure vital evidence are also corroborated:
After the killing, police said detectives were not able to get to the crime scene until 7:45 a.m., nearly five hours after the shooting. However, a video filed in the civil case shows that police had an opportunity to intervene while people were disturbing the crime scene. Shortly after the shooting, at least nine patrol cars gathered a couple of blocks from CHOP. Police body-worn video from the aftermath of the shooting shows a contingent of police officers approach the crime scene and one of the officers uses binoculars to watch people rifle through the Jeep.
“Rather than secure the crime scene as they watch people interfere with potential evidence, the officers are instructed by their incident commander to leave it alone until morning, according to the video,” the Times reports.
SPD says the investigation of the Mays Jr. killing remains an open case.
HIs father’s lawsuit, meanwhile, is slated to begin trial on November 3rd.
You can read the entire Seattle Times/KUOW report here: New Seattle CHOP videos contradict city’s narrative in unsolved killing
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Why was this kid driving around all erratically when people were already on edge? Does the family and person killed take no responsibility? Acting crazy gets you killed- epically when the city was already on edge. He clearly was driving like an idiot. People were scare for their lives- actions have consequences.
I thought the kids were from out of town, excited to come be a part of the movement and, unfortunately, didn’t know the area and got confused by all the concrete blocks and maybe also being young drivers at night, made a wrong turn….at a time when (too many armed) volunteers were being primed to be on edge with people like Sawant claiming the first death was due to white nationalists (which was actually noted on the ground to be a black-on-black dispute from outside the zone). Sawant (and our defunct SPD) should bear a huge chunk of the blame for that one and most of our government officials. But also the armed volunteers, of course, if they did indeed do the shooting as reported then. The only saving grace through all of it was Omari Salisbury’s exemplary engagement and reporting on the ground.
SPD saying MAGA mobs were coming for CHAZ to start shit over open radio had nothing to do with it? What about 12 years federal watch?
It seems the cops are also to blame. They did kill George Floyd
Whoa, SPD killed George Floyd?
The COPS KILLED FLOYYD.
The conduct DURING THE PROTESTS BY SPD WERE OUT OF BOUNDS!
Fact.
You put words in peoples mouths rather than say the facts. Shocking. 7 year old’s have better debate tactics.
As witness to the entire thing (CHOP/CHAZ) living right outside the zone this is utterly not surprising. Remember it took an active arson just to get SFD and SPD to respond to the Car Tender AK in the bushes incident with Raz’s thugs.
The cops decided to abandon the neighborhood, perhaps from orders directly at the top of city hall. We’ll never get he full story as the illegally deleted texts will never come to light.
It was also as Mook said an extremely ON EDGE time. Everybody in the neighborhood was on edge, after the first two nights it was not at all “the summer of love” but the summer of killings, robbings, rapes and similar as anarchy descended around the park.
It was a shameful time in the City’s history and one that still has not been fully reckoned with or recovered from.
I did not see all that. I saw some ratchetness here and there, but it was not anarchy. Now near the last week of it all, it did descend into a problem as “organizers” all lost control of their points. It went from BLM—>defund the police—-> acab. Around the acab period is what we are discussing. Was it organized altogether, absolutely not. And if I’m not mistaking there were two shootings. One where a fight took place and I guess this one we are talking about. And the lady who was found in the fountain or water tower, I forget the details… but… he’ll chop/chaz ain’t claim as many lives as the last two summers have on pike/pine. So… even the last few months.
It was my lived experience. YMMV. I left out many of the worse elements including getting ID checked by a kid holding a long gun no older than 20 so I could go get a cup of coffee on my way to work!
If you are talking about when Travis Berge killed Lisa Vach in Cal Anderson, that was in September, a month after CHAZ/CHOP broke up. Yeah, homeless people were still there, but protesters had gone home. It was still indicative of problems that Seattle has.. Travis Berge was a chronic offender.. he was arrested, reportedly from 38-40 some times, was an unabashed meth user and clearly suffered from mental health issues.. yet he was out on the streets and kept being put back there until he finally killed someone and then himself…
I totally agree. CHAZ/CHOP was one of the darkest chapters in Seattle history. The damage to the Capitol Hill community from the succession of a portion of the city to anarchists and gangs has never been repaired. It is still lawless up here. I also think the excesses on the left in 2020 in Seattle contributed to the January 6 riots and the re-election of Trump. I have always hated the far right, but during and following CHOP I have grown to also despise the far left. The far left and their stupid policies around homeless encampments, drugs, and criminal justice have destroyed Seattle and west coast cities.
The gangs were already there. And the far left would have used any movement to start some mess. Most of it was white people anyways. Like 85% white people being lead by their ears by a whole bunch of random clout chasing instangram check collecting organizers. So yes it was bad.
The usual exaggeration by the “independents” who never fail to show up in these posts. Let me know when home prices crash in these on edge, lawless, and destroyed cities.
West coast cities are nowhere to be found on the list of those with worst homicide rates in America.
Your rationality is not currency here.
bottom 10 are all red states
Yup. Hate the extremes left and right.
The CHAZ morons (antifa, black block, raz, whoever) did exactly what they accused the police of doing: shooting black people because they felt threatened.
This was a murder, and everyone involved should be incarcerated for the rest of their lives.
The only good that came of this was showing once and for all that these people and their ideology is a joke. A complete joke.
Mkay…One incident and it’s all a shame joke?
The right wing violence FAR outweighs liberal violence in America. Look it up.
Totally agree.
It’s funny…
“The cops are freedom from crime and the ills of society” “Do not disparage them”. Is the general right wing consensus. Okay fine. But to misrepresent facts to make THAT point? oh my lord. do these people even care about facts? Or learning? Or listening? or comprehending? I do not see it on the right. I just do not. There’s no left or right anymore.
It’s democracy vs. Oligarchy/dictator/fascism. That’s your choices today. Moderates or independents are also the problem. Same argument.
On the other hand?
The right will bury the left in lies and speculation. Devoid of facts. Completely devoid. Because they listen, read and watch right wing propaganda. Then disparage every group imaginable based on that.
Look at the merch? Who is the child and who’s the adult? I am sorry my kids have to see and hear it. But that’s ‘mercah. Part of it anyway.
The “libs” are not the boogie man. History shows that both parties are in on it. We need progressive ideas to turn this around. No more military in the streets and no masked kidnappers either.
Why haven’t we seen the mayoral and city attorney candidates for office asked how they would handle CHOP/make sure it never happens again.
All that gun melee that took place? If the cops would have swarmed the place it would have been far worse. The crime scene was polluted within minutes of the shooting, what would have been gained by having the cops come sirens blazing in the middle of night? More deaths.
If the city is found to be in fault? Well then, maybe anytime there is a shooting at an encampment the city should be considered to be at fault, maybe having the City of Seattle understand that it is negligent is the only path forward at this point.
You can’t make sure a CHOP never happens again without withdrawing the impetus in the first place – do note that there was a precipitating even with tons of circumstantial availability. If the idea is direct and heavy intercession before it even gets to a critical mass point, you just have a string of riots anyway.
The people that killed Antonio Mays JR were likely either confidential informants for the SPD / FBI or armed security hired by the large property owners in the area. Hopefully Katie wins and withdraws the city from the Joint Terrorism Task Force like she mentioned in one of the debates so we can have true transparency in policing
The responsibility is mainly on The City of Seattle. They should NEVER have ceded that area to the protesters. What a huge F up.
The City itself had no fucking idea what would happen. May 29th was the breakout event at Westlake and the bet was that it wouldn’t keep going after a couple of putdowns and like I said above, you’re gonna have to bust out the live ammo if you wanna prevent it in the future.