Whitehead was caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shootout while she was standing in line to get cotton candy.
Leaders from the Seattle police are scheduled to give an update on their investigation into the Bite of Seattle shooting to the city council's public safety committee on Tuesday.
Interim Chief Andre Sayles and Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis are expected to speak to the council about the initial response, as well as lapses in communication to the public and questions about security planning for the event.
The family of victim Ashley Whitehead is also expected to speak to the council during public comment. She was one of three people to die in the shooting, while four others were wounded.
Whitehead was caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shootout while she was standing in line to get cotton candy.
There are faces and names behind the victims of the Bite of Seattle shooting,” Michelle Whitehead, the cousin of Ashley Whitehead, told KOMO News in an interview Monday. “We want accountability. We want extensive safety measures in place. We want the city to be a safe place.
Investigators say several gang members shot at each other in a crowded area near the International Fountain at Seattle Center. Officers at the scene quickly apprehended a 15-year-old suspect who has since been charged with assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
According to court documents, police do not believe any of the bullets fired by the 15-year-old resulted in fatalities. Interim Chief Sayles has said multiple times in the nearly two months since the shooting that police were closing in on an additional suspect or suspects. One of the people who died in the shooting, Junior Niko-Semo, is also believed to have been involved in the shootout.
Police and city hall waited hours to tell the public details of the shooting, including that it was gang-related and that an arrest had been made. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson pushed former police chief Shon Barnes to resign within days of the shooting. Barnes was out of town at a police conference in Dallas on the night of the shooting.
She cited communication issues as one reason she asked Barnes to resign. Barnes received approximately $700,000 as part of a resignation agreement.
"I think the focus has been on the wrong place," Michelle Whitehead said. "The focus has been whether the police chief was in the state or out of the state, text messages, a five-hour delay in a press conference. Yes, that's an issue, but what's the real underlying issue? Why weren't there cameras? Why aren't there enough police? Why weren't there metal detectors?"
Whitehead wants to see the city offer a reward for information leading to the arrests of additional suspects in connection with the shooting.
“There is a killer still on the street,” she said.
Michelle Whitehead said her family would like to see additional cameras added at Seattle Center and better security protocols for events. In her prepared remarks to the council, she expressed concerns about juvenile laws regarding handguns in Washington and the lack of data about gang violence in Seattle.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable — in a crowded Bite of Seattle, a food festival, on a Sunday at 6 p.m. — it is outrageous,” she said. “It’s insanity.”
Ashley Whitehead moved to the Seattle area from the South to be with her family here.
“She loved Seattle,” Michelle Whitehead said. “She loved Washington. She loved all the activities she could do here. There are other victims out there, and I want to make sure we remember their names, and she does not become a statistic. We have been lost in the shuffle. The focus needs to be on the families and what we can do to alleviate this from ever happening again.”
