City of Seattle found negligent in deadly 2020 CHOP shooting
Jan 29, 2026, 3:20 PM | Updated: 4:48 pm
An empty Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) is pictured after Seattle Police cleared the CHOP and retook the department's East Precinct in Seattle, Washington on July 1, 2020. (Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)
The City of Seattle was found negligent for the killing of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr., who was shot in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) in 2020, The Post Millennial reported Thursday.
Seattle was found liable for a “state-created danger” after abandoning the Seattle Police Department (SPD) East Precinct, fortifying the zone with barriers, and prohibiting police from entering the area. Plaintiffs argued this allowed violence to escalate and delayed aid to Mays Jr.
The city will have to pay Mays Jr.’s family more than $30 million in damages — $4 million to the estate of Mays Jr. and around $26 million to Mays Sr., according to The Seattle Times.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office responded to the verdict.
“Antonio Mays Jr.’s death was a tragedy. We will assess the city’s options going forward,” a spokesperson wrote to KIRO Newsradio.
Antonio Mays Jr.’s family files lawsuit
Antonio Mays Sr., Mays Jr.’s father, filed a lawsuit against Seattle in 2022, claiming the city failed to provide emergency services to protesters in CHOP.
Mays Jr. was visiting Seattle from San Diego and wanted to join the protests when he was shot and killed.
“He was here to participate in something bigger than him. Something that was going to change things to make the world a better place. And he was greeted by this insane situation up on Capitol Hill,” Evan Oshan, the attorney for Mays Sr., said.
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Police didn’t arrive for 5 hours
After Mays Jr. was shot, police didn’t arrive at the scene for five hours, by which time they said the crime scene had been disturbed. No one was arrested for the shooting.
In 2021, the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) found SPD did not break the law when it decided to abandon the East Precinct due to an unprecedented situation and the threat of arson.
The lawsuit was updated in 2023 to include former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best and Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins.
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