Harger: SPD described a Georgetown stabbing suspect down to his jacket. For the Bite of Seattle shooters? Nothing.

On Aug. 5, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) put out a blotter post about a stabbing in Georgetown. Here’s the description they released: “The suspect is described as a White man in his 30s with a thin build. He was last seen wearing an orange jacket and blue jeans.”

Back in May, SPD described an assault suspect this way: Black male, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-9, medium build, facial hair, white bucket hat, wearing all black with red or pink shoes.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. Somebody commits a crime, police tell the public what the suspect looks like, and people can call in if they recognize the description. SPD does this routinely. They don’t hold back on height, build, clothing, or race.

Now here’s what SPD has released about the shooters who opened fire into a crowd at the Bite of Seattle on July 26, killing two bystanders and wounding a two-year-old:

Nothing.

Interim Chief Andre Sayles was asked point blank if a killer is on the loose. He wouldn’t answer.

On Tuesday, Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka asked Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles a direct question: is there a killer on the loose?

Sayles said he couldn’t say yes or no.

Of course he can. The answer is yes. C’mon.

The Bite of Seattle shooting was a gang shootout. Carlos Sanchez Villalba, 44, and Ashley Whitehead, 56, were innocent bystanders at a food festival on a Sunday afternoon. Both were killed. A 19-year-old suspected shooter died in the crossfire. A two-year-old boy was among those wounded. A 15-year-old was arrested at the scene with a gun.

Read the charging documents, and the math is not complicated. Five guns were involved. One Polymer80 was allegedly found with the 15-year-old. One was recovered at the scene, jammed and never fired. A third recovered gun’s origin is still unexplained. And two guns, a .40 caliber handgun and a 9mm, fired shots. Their casings were recovered at the scene.

Those two guns have never been found. The charging documents confirm the 15-year-old’s gun was not the weapon that killed Sanchez Villalba or Whitehead.

So at least one person fired into a crowd of tens of thousands, killed two bystanders, and walked away with the gun. Possibly two people. And the interim chief of police, asked directly by an elected official, could not bring himself to say, “Yes, there’s a killer on the loose.”

What a ponderous response from Sayles. Not the investigation moving slowly. Not the tactical decisions about what to release. A councilmember asked whether the public is in danger and got a non-answer.

SPD described a stabbing suspect’s jacket. They won’t describe a killer.

The only description the public has of anyone still at large came from the charging documents, not from SPD. A witness described a male in a light blue top who allegedly fired first. That detail sits in a court filing. It has never appeared in an SPD release.

SPD will tell you a Georgetown stabbing suspect wore an orange jacket and blue jeans. They will not tell you what the Bite of Seattle shooter or shooters looked like.

If it’s a brick wall, say that. People will understand.

I’ve written before that it’s entirely possible the shooters are juveniles. If that’s the case, HB 1140 requires an attorney to be present before police can question them, and defense attorneys instruct their clients to say nothing. Every time. That would explain the silence, and it would be a legitimate reason for it.

So say that. Tell us you’ve identified someone and state law is blocking the interview. Tell us you can’t say more without compromising the case. The public can handle “here’s what we can’t tell you and here’s why.”

What the public can’t handle is nothing at all.

And if SPD truly doesn’t know who they’re looking for, then release a description. Somebody at that festival saw something. Somebody in that crowd has a photo. You can’t ask 350,000 annual Bite of Seattle attendees to help if you won’t tell them who to look for.

The mayor’s office says nobody told SPD to stay quiet. A department spokesperson says otherwise.

Department spokesperson Brian Pritchard has apparently disputed the mayor’s account of what happened in the hours after the shooting. Emails obtained by KOMO show Pritchard pushing back hard on the claim that no one directed the department to hold information until dignitaries could arrive.

I’ve been to too many of these scenes. Police always tell you two things fast: whether there’s a danger to the public, and when to expect a fuller briefing. That’s standard. That’s how it’s always worked. When that doesn’t happen, somebody made a decision.

KIRO Newsradio and multiple other outlets have filed public disclosure requests with SPD and the mayor’s office for the emails and communications from those first hours.

The expected response date is October.

It’s the middle of August

Two people who went to a food festival are dead. A two-year-old took a bullet. At least one shooter is armed and unaccounted for. The families are waiting. The city is waiting. And a department that can describe a Georgetown stabbing suspect down to his blue jeans has told the public nothing about the people who did this.

Somebody is lying about what happened in those first hours. Somebody is telling SPD to be quiet about describing the suspects.

We may have to wait until October to find out who.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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