Police credit hero in Seattle cafe shootings

He is a hero. Seattle police now say that a man named
Lawrence is responsible for saving the lives of two,
possibly three people, during the Cafe Racer shooting on
Wednesday.
Police say it’s fortunate there weren’t more people shot
as an armed and dangerous man traveled across
Seattle before finally claiming his own life.

On Thursday, Seattle Police Assistant Chief Nick Metz said
that he had the opportunity of reviewing the surveillance
video showing the slayings inside Cafe Racer.

“I’ve never seen anything more horrific, callous, and
cold,” he said.

Police described what they saw on the video. In the
minutes before the attack, Ian Stawicki appeared to be
calmly sitting at the bar of the cafe. When someone got up
and headed toward the door, he opened fire.

Lawrence, a longtime patron of the cafe, was drinking his
morning coffee when he overheard someone ‘politely’
telling Stawicki that he was no longer welcome at the
cafe.

According to Lawrence, the popping of the guns was quieter
than he expected, happening when he glanced down at his
phone for just a moment.

That was when, according to police Stawicki started
shooting people sitting at the bar.

Fighting back by throwing bar stools, Lawrence survived.

“During that time, two or possibly three, people made
their
escape,” Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel said.

Lawrence said he was defending his friends. “I just threw
the frigging stool at him, legs first,” he told police.
“My brother died in the World Trade Center. I promised
myself, ‘If something like this ever happened, I would
never hide under a table.'”

When he finished shooting, Stawicki put his guns back in
his pockets, put his hat on, and walked outside.

While many are calling Lawrence the hero, he said that a
wounded cafe employee who was able to call 911 was the
“real hero.”

Police have said Stawicki used two .45 caliber handguns
during the
attack. Lawrence told police that Stawicki had looked back
at him like he didn’t care. “He was on a mission to kill
my friends.”

From there, witnesses are coming forward to help piece
together the puzzle of how Stawicki got from the
University District to First Hill, where he would claim
his next victim, and take her car.

One woman said that she saw him
on 45th, trying to flag down her car.

The SeattlePI.com reports Stawicki took
a truck from the Ravenna neighborhood and abandoned it
near Town Hall where he encountered Gloria Leonidas.

She had parked her car and was at the receipt machine,
paying for her spot. She walked back to the car and was
approached by Stawicki.

Witnesses saw a fight, and one called 911. Police said
that Stawicki hit Leonidas several times, but she managed
to knock the gun from his hand. He picked it up, shot her,
jumped in her car and sped off.

The witness who called 911 was on the line with a
dispatcher as Stawicki fired the shot, and then gasped and
said that he had run over Leonidas.

Stawicki reached out to someone police described as an
“old acquaintance” that lived in West Seattle. That person
broke off contact with him when he began talking
erratically, and described Stawicki’s comments as
“nonsense.”

Despite the rejection, Stawicki headed to West Seattle.

He abandoned Leonidas’ car in a no-parking zone. He left
one of his guns behind and when one woman tried to warn
him that he couldn’t park there, he ignored her and walked
on.

He roamed in very crowded areas for some time after that.
Finally, he was spotted by an officer in plain clothes. As
authorities closed in on him, he took his gun and shot
himself in the head, dying at Harborview Medical Center
later that night.

In all, six people were fatally shot, including Stawicki.

The only survivor of the cafe shooting, Leonard Meuse, was upgraded from critical to serious condition at Harborview Medical Center.

Police say they still do not have a motive for the
shooting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.