Seattle police chief resigns after deadly food festival shooting

Mayor announces resignation of Shon Barnes after city officials faced criticism over response to Sunday shooting

Seattle’s police chief has resigned amid criticism of the city’s response to a fatal shootout at a food festival last weekend, Katie Wilson, the mayor, said on Thursday.

The announcement followed hours of speculation about whether Shon Barnes would step down, as some of his supporters said he had rebuffed Wilson’s request that he resign.

Wilson said she was appointing deputy chief Andre Sayles, a law enforcement veteran with more than two decades of experience, as interim chief.

Barnes told the Seattle Times on Thursday that whether he remained in the position was “up to the mayor”. He said he was off for the day and spending time with family. A police department spokesperson told the Associated Press he did not have any information to share about the situation.

Barnes was out of town at a law enforcement conference when gunfire erupted last weekend at the Bite of Seattle, an annual three-day festival that draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers.

Three people, including one suspect, were killed, and four people were wounded. One of the people wounded was a two-year-old boy.

Dozens of officers were at the event, and at least one saw a 15-year-old suspect firing into a crowd and quickly persuaded him to surrender, according to court documents. Police are still searching for at least one other person.

The Seattle police department and Wilson have faced criticism for slow and confusing communication in the shooting’s aftermath.

After an initial social media post announcing that there had been a shooting with multiple victims, it took nearly five hours for police to provide any additional information to the public, including whether there was any active threat. In the meantime, Wilson announced that two people had been taken into custody, a statement she later retracted.

Tyrone Davis, the assistant Seattle police chief, finally provided an update at about 11pm on Sunday night during a news conference that was also attended by the mayor, Governor Bob Ferguson and US congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.

Barnes had been the second Black police chief in Seattle.

Several Black community organizations, including the Seattle NAACP and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, rallied to try to save his job Thursday. In an open letter to the mayor’s office, they credited him with improving relations between the department and the community, helping reduce gun violence and strengthening the department’s operations.

Barnes was appointed by Seattle’s previous mayor, Bruce Harrell, in December 2024 after serving as chief of the Madison, Wisconsin, police department.

When Wilson — a democratic socialist who once supported defunding police — won the mayor’s race last year, she kept Barnes on as chief. That was a signal to the city’s business establishment and community groups that she did not intend to take a radically different approach to public safety.

Barnes has faced some criticism for spending time in Chicago, where his family lives. Sgt Patrick Michaud, a department spokesperson, said Thursday that Barnes has made four trips to Chicago this year and spent in total about 18 days traveling there. Barnes also has traveled to several police executive and recruitment conferences.