‘The texts are the texts’: Gee questions SPD’s delay in releasing Bite of Seattle shooting messages

Interim Seattle Police Chief Andre Sayles asked for more time before releasing SPD’s internal communications from the night of the deadly Bite of Seattle shooting, but KIRO host Gee Scott wants to know what there is to check.

Sayles said Friday he needs to ensure accuracy and make sure no investigative leads are disclosed. He had originally promised to release the texts and internal team messages from the night of the shootings last Monday.

“Checking for accuracy? The texts are the texts,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “There is no redoing the text messages. Just put them out there so we all know.”

The delay doesn’t prove wrongdoing, Gee added, but it raises questions.

“I’m not saying that something is wrong,” he said. “I’m saying this makes you scratch your head when there is a delay.”

Gee pointed to a familiar precedent: text messages from a previous mayoral administration and police leadership that were deleted entirely. KIRO producer Andrew Lanier recalled the same episode.

“I don’t remember them because they got deleted,” Andrew said.

Gee noted the history makes stalling even harder to swallow. He drew a clear line between what’s acceptable and what isn’t.

“Protect the investigation part of it? Sure. I think we all can agree with that. Get to redacting. Redact what you need,” Gee said. “But this is what stands out to me. Accuracy? Huh? I don’t get that. Just lay them text messages out.”

Gee says the simplest fix was always available

Andrew compared the delay to a legal defense strategy, noting that when a defendant knows they have a problem, their only move is to delay.

Gee agreed and said the frustration is that none of this needed to drag out. He believes the mayor’s office delayed speaking to the community the night of the shooting and wants confirmation.

“All of this could have been taken care of a long time ago,” he said. “Just say, ‘Oops.’ Why is that so hard? ‘Hey, this was our bad, we messed up, we didn’t do that right.’ And then we move on.”

Instead, the city is still stuck. The Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee plans to hold its next hearing on Sept. 22 to dig deeper into what happened that night. Gee noted the first committee meeting could have resolved more if Detective Brian Pritchard had been available to testify.

“We could have taken care of this in the very beginning,” Gee said. “But instead, delay, delay, delay.”

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.