The office of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson released hundreds of messages Friday afternoon showing its internal communications during the response to the Bite of S
The office of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson released hundreds of messages Friday afternoon showing its internal communications during the response to the Bite of Seattle shooting in July.
The records show there were conflicting instructions on whether police or the mayor's office should be releasing information to the public and confusion about how the AlertSeattle system worked.
The response to the shooting has been a significant issue for Mayor Wilson during the first year of her term.
She asked former police chief Shon Barnes to resign days after the shooting, and there has been significant public outcry about why it took city officials several hours to inform the public that a suspect had been apprehended and the shooting was the result of people shooting at each other in the crowd.
The shots were fired just after 6 p.m. at Seattle Center as thousands of people were attending the Bite of Seattle festival.
At 6:26 p.m., Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, senior communications staffer for the mayor, created a group chat with the mayor and several other key staffers.
In the internal group text, Alison Holcomb, the mayor's director of public safety, said she did not believe the mayor should respond to the scene until more details were known. Sometime between 6:56 p.m. and 7:28 p.m., Wilson expressed interest in planning a press conference.
"It would be good to get clarity soon whether we're planning a public conference tonight v. tomorrow morning, so we can communicate that to other elected officials," Wilson wrote.
By 7:20 p.m., a Microsoft Teams message between Spangenthal-Lee and Cheryl Delostrinos, showed that the mayor's team knew the number of victims, the number of deceased and that there were two suspects in custody, as well as two more that were potentially still being sought after.
By 8:30 p.m., the mayor's staff began coordinating a statement to release online about the shooting. In a Teams chat, Spangenthal-Lee expressed frustration to Seattle police staff about why no information was going out publicly.
In a message to Seattle police Chief Operations Officer Sara Smith, Spangenthal-Lee asked about a police statement.
"It's been two hours since you guys posted anything? Even some tweets at this point ..." he wrote.
Smith said police were actively handling the situation on the ground "and with media on scene" — though no media briefings or direct information were being shared with reporters at the designated media spot.
At 8:40 p.m., Spangenthal-Lee wrote in the internal Teams chat, "It's F---ing embarrassing that SPD has waited HOURS to put anything out ... this is a massive f---ing disaster and hit to public trust."
The mayor's office then published a blog post that incorrectly stated two suspects had been apprehended.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | 911 recordings capture panic during Bite of Seattle shooting at Seattle Center
During the news coverage, Wilson's text messages showed she was growing increasingly concerned with the lack of information being shared with the media.
"We should consider whether I should come down and talk to KOMO, if that expectation has been created," Wilson wrote in an internal group chat. "I'm sure they would love to spin an 'absent mayor' story."
Ten minutes later, Wilson again told her team she believed she should respond to the scene with her Executive Protection Unit (EPU).
"I can call them now if we're agreed I should talk to KOMO," she wrote.
Holcomb then called Seattle police to tell them to hold off on a scheduled 9:45 p.m. press conference until the mayor could get there.
Confusion over AlertSeattle procedure
Meanwhile the day after the shooting -- further communication amongst the Mayor's office and other city staff members shows how there was confusion over how AlertSeattle, the city's emergency notification system, was not used to inform the public.
That evening, Spangenthall-Lee, wrote in response to Holcomb, that he'd need to do a "big comms [sic] debrief" and "figure out how we can change how we use alert seattle, cuz [sic] right now it's everyone's job and no one's job," adding "we need to fix the system" in a follow up message.
Spangenthall-Lee also stated that the city's Office of Emergency Management had reached out to SPD at 7:12 p.m., "to offer assistance but was declined."
Shortly later he messaged "maybe not SPD but in fact CARE?" referencing the city's Community Assisted Response and Engagement team, who does street outreach and crisis management instead of police.
When Amy Barden, the Chief of CARE, was messaged in the Teams thread about why an AlertSeattle notification was not sent on the evening of the shooting, she wrote "that sounds very odd", and explained that the city's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) takes alert orders from Seattle Fire or Seattle Police, noting that the CARE department would never have the authority to issue one.
She further added that SPD media relations has the ability to issue the alerts directly, which is always how it happens if its law enforcement related.
