‘Something’s not right’: Gee questions why it took 17 hours to confirm second shooter at Bite of Seattle

Several Seattle officials held a news conference Monday to reveal key details regarding the Bite of Seattle shooting that killed three people and injured four on Sunday.

After listening to the conference on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, KIRO host Gee Scott was outraged by Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes. Gee asked plainly, “What is going on?” when it was confirmed 17 hours later that there was a second shooter.

Gee specifically noted a statement where Barnes said, “We have to start working together.”

Gee said city officials made it difficult to work together when there was a 17-hour delay in vital information that could help solve the case.

“Coming out of that press conference, that absolutely lacked every bit of confidence from me,” Gee said. “Seventeen hours is the number I want to talk about. I want to talk about 17 hours; that’s how long it took for this community, us, the city of Seattle, that’s how long it took for us to know that there was a suspect on the loose. Think about that for a second. All the reasons for the delay up until 11 p.m. I had friends of mine that were there. It took this long to have confirmation?

“With respect, they are making it hard for the community to partner in any way, shape or form,” he continued. “Then, I also learned something else that stopped me in my tracks. Investigators said they had the surveillance video. That’s been the question, but as of 17 hours later, they still haven’t reviewed it. Huh? What is going on? We’re talking about the Space Needle, Seattle Center, 1,000s of people coming to one area, and you mean to tell me 17 hours later, the camera footage hasn’t been reviewed? Something’s not matching up, something’s not right.”

Gee said briefing on Bite of Seattle shooting only deepened his concerns

Gee expanded on why the news conference left him with more questions than he started it with, and how he doesn’t feel comfortable knowing there are “games being played.”

“After that press conference, I have way more questions than I did earlier this morning,” Gee said. “I don’t feel confident or comfortable because I feel like there’s a lot of things that are happening behind the scenes that we, the people, don’t know. We’re asking the questions: Why does it take five hours to have that press conference for the people, the community, to know what’s going on? Should you be in danger? What’s going on? Is there a shooter out there, and you don’t know the answer?

“Now to say you don’t know the placement of the cameras, and to say, yes, there is video, but it hasn’t been reviewed yet? Then what is the purpose of the damn video then?” he continued. “It feels like there’s an internal thing that is happening that we don’t know about. There’s some information that is missing, and there are games that are being played. My first job was door-to-door sales. Most people’s first job isn’t mayor of a city with a $9 billion budget. This whole back and forth with the cameras, it’s all fun and games until it impacts your family.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.