Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said she asked former Police Chief Shon Barnes to resign because she needed a cabinet aligned with her administration’s values, polic
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said she asked former Police Chief Shon Barnes to resign because she needed a cabinet aligned with her administration’s values, policy goals, and vision for the Seattle Police Department, according to a response provided to the City Council.
Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said Wednesday that the mayor’s counsel provided the explanation in response to his Aug. 21 request for the reason behind Barnes’ departure.
Kettle said he sought the information under Article VI, Section 2 of the Seattle City Charter. Barnes resigned July 30 after Wilson asked for his resignation, the mayor’s office said at the time.
His resignation came during the fallout of the Bite of Seattle mass shooting on July 26, which left 3 people dead and several others wounded, with both police and the city government facing criticism for the way they managed the incident and aftermath.
The mayor's response to Kettle, issued by her General Counsel on Sept. 10, reads:
"Though the Mayor is not obligated to file a reason for the Chief of Police's resignation, we want to refer the Council to the Mayor's public statements regarding the resignation of the police chief and repeat those reasons in this letter. After careful consideration, the Mayor requested his resignation due to the need to build a cabinet that is aligned with her administration's values, policy goals, and vision for the Seattle Police Department."
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Kettle said he disagreed with both the decision and how it was handled, though he acknowledged the mayor’s authority under the City Charter. He said the mayor’s response was copied to the city clerk and therefore considered filed with the council.
The Bite of Seattle case and the city’s response have remained under scrutiny, with council members, media, and the public seeking more information about communications, decision-making and the investigation’s status.
Kettle previously called for a broader review of the city’s response to the shooting and said the Public Safety Committee expects to examine the timeline, communications and key decisions during a Sept. 22 hearing. Mayor Wilson has said the Office of Inspector General is conducting an after-action review.
In his statement, Kettle said the mayor’s office and City Council should work together to select a permanent chief. Under the city’s process, the mayor selects a nominee, who must then be reviewed and confirmed by the City Council.
“Given Seattle’s ongoing public safety challenges, we need to take these matters very seriously for the health and safety of our communities,” Kettle said.
During an exclusive interview with KOMO News following his resignation, Barnes said he did not know why Wilson asked him to step aside.
“I will let her answer that question. But what I can tell you is, I was not provided any explanation other than she wanted my resignation, which leads me to believe that most mayors, hey, they want to pick their own police chief. When we first met, I knew that was the case, but she said on three separate occasions that she thought, or that she said that she was going to keep me. I assumed that we were going to move forward,” he explained.
Asked again if he’s been given an explanation, Barnes said, “We did not have that conversation.”
Wilson’s office previously disclosed a series of texts detailing what her staff knew in the early minutes after the mass shooting, and interim police chief Andre Sayles said the department expects to release its own internal messages.
Wilson said that the release of texts was made “in the interest of transparency.”
But Kettle was similarly critical of this explanation, saying the texts do not appear to tell the entire story.
“It’s not just the five-hour delay,” Kettle said. “It is, are we executing properly? Are we operating properly? Is there a checklist? It’s not just SPD, but is the mayor going through a checklist?”
Barnes told KOMO News that he did not make the decision to delay information to the public.
“I did not,” Barnes said when asked whether he ordered officials to hold off. “I do not know who made that call. I can tell you this: if I was here in Seattle, we would have informed the public continuously, more than one particular interview.”
The expected police release could provide a fuller timeline of the response, including what commanders knew, when they knew it, and how decisions were made about public communication during one of Seattle’s deadliest recent shootings.
