VIDEO: SPD releases body‑camera footage from officer‑involved shooting in Ballard
Feb 14, 2026, 10:02 PM | Updated: Feb 15, 2026, 3:44 pm
A still shot from SPD body-camera video from last Thursday night's officer-involved shooting in Ballard. (Courtesy Seattle Police Department)
(Courtesy Seattle Police Department)
The Seattle Police Department has released body camera footage of last Thursday’s officer-involved shooting in Ballard.
Warning: graphic content
Prosecutors charged Christopher Michael Bowman, 62, with one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault. The Kansas man is accused of shooting at officers who were responding to a call about him following his ex-wife, according to court documents.
On Sunday, police released body camera footage from the incident, as well as the ex-wife’s 9-1-1 call. You can view that video here.
Shooting occurred near elementary school
The shooting occurred at the intersection of 28th Avenue NW and NW 62nd Street, near Adams Elementary School on Thursday evening.
Bowman’s ex-wife called police to report that he was following her. She told dispatchers he usually carried a pistol. She’d gone into a grocery store and told dispatchers she was not sure if he had followed her in, the documents said.
Three officers were dispatched to the area.
“They could see that the defendant had his hand in his pocket, giving them concern that he had quick access to a firearm,” prosecutors wrote.
One officer ordered Bowman to take his hand out of his pocket. Prosecutors said that at that point, he opened fire. Officers returned fire, wounding Bowman. Body camera footage showed Bowman made it around the corner onto NW 62nd Street before collapsing. Officers kicked a gun away from his side and took him into custody. The weapon was a semi-automatic handgun with one round remaining in the chamber.
One of the officers suffered a knee injury that may have been caused by shrapnel from shots fired toward a police patrol vehicle, the documents said.
Bowman was transported to Harborview Medical Center.
Bowman’s criminal history
Bowman had an active warrant out of Kansas for rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and criminal possession of a firearm, the documents said.
Bowman’s criminal history includes felony convictions in Kansas in 1994 for rape, attempted aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, criminal possession of a firearm, and two counts of trafficking contraband in a correctional institution, according to court documents.
The following year in Missouri, he was convicted of first-degree robbery.
His misdemeanor record includes assault on a law enforcement officer in Kansas in 1994 and a protection order violation in Kansas in 2022.
Prosecutors requested bail be set at $3 million, citing concerns that Bowman poses a danger to the community.
He is scheduled for arraignment on Feb. 19.
