Gunfire erupted in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood early Sunday after a fight outside a bar spilled into the street near 1st Ave. and King Street, leaving
Gunfire erupted in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood early Sunday after a fight outside a bar spilled into the street near 1st Ave. and King Street, leaving at least one person wounded and multiple vehicles and a nearby business damaged.
911 callers reported shots fired in the area around the Cowgirls Inc bar in Pioneer Square. Multiple officers responded to the scene.
Security reported that a fight from the bar moved into the street, where several people involved got into a shootout.
Several vehicles were hit by gunfire, and a business on the northwest corner of the intersection was also struck.
"Over 20 shots were fired; everybody inside the club immediately laid down, hit the deck, music turned off, and we had to escort everybody out the doors," said Brandon Rollins, who was working security at the bar, "It was a pretty chaotic scene."
Rollins said that they have a search policy for every patron that enters; however, on Saturday night, he said there were unique circumstances that may have led to some people still being armed.
"In this situation, some women were involved in the shooting, and we were not able to search them properly," Rollins explained. "And so they were able to have weapons on them because we were not able to search them properly," he added.
Police recovered shell casings of various calibers, along with a gun that investigators said fell from one of the people involved while running from the area.
"Oh, it's a scary situation because everybody's screaming, people are frightened, people are crying," Rollins said about the aftermath.
A short time later, a gunshot wound victim walked into Harborview Medical Center with a non-life-threatening wound to the back.
No suspects have been arrested. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit are conducting the follow-up investigation.
It's an investigation that Rollins thinks could have been solved rather quickly, had the help of three nearby city surveillance cameras -- which have been turned off since the end of the FIFA World Cup -- been active to capture the shootout and its aftermath.
"We could have seen, monitored everything, we could have got all the evidence we needed, but now it's just going to take a lot longer," said Rollins. "The camera footage speaks for itself, so it makes it much more easy," he added.
Those cameras and 19 others within SODO and Pioneer Square were previously linked to the city's Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) network, which is comprised of both public and private cameras that the Seattle Police Department said has helped them solve smaller crimes, to assaults and even homicides.
The network of 60-plus cameras was set up in the International District, parts of Downtown Seattle and the Aurora Avenue North corridor in 2025-- with former Mayor Bruce Harrell planning an expansion to areas like the Stadium District and Pioneer Square, as well as near Garfield High School and the nightlife district of Capitol Hill.
However, Mayor Wilson elected to pause the expansion after taking office, but allowed the installation of the 22 cameras in the Stadium District area -- due to what she called "credible threats" from law enforcement ahead of the FIFA World Cup festivities in Seattle.
Once the games ended, she promptly turned the 22 cameras off, while keeping the original RTCC network online.
The paused expansion stemmed from campaign promises and concerns from the public that the cameras' stored footage and live feeds could be unknowingly accessed by federal agencies looking to execute immigration, abortion, or gender affirming care investigations across state lines.
As a result, there have been two ongoing audits of the RTCC and camera technology, which are expected to be finished by this fall.
Now, however, residents like Kathy Temple -- a Sounders fan who walks in the neighborhood to the games -- want to see those cameras back on.
“I think it's for public safety. I mean, if the justice system wants to catch criminals and see who's responsible, I'm really a firm believer those cameras are important," Temple said.
Rollins said that they'd be able to deter violence like this from taking place while people are trying to enjoy themselves on the weekend.
"If we could thwart these criminals, and if they're, you know, if they're worried about getting caught on camera, they're going to stop, they're not going to do it as easy," he said.
