Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes resigned Thursday, four days after a shooting at the Bite of Seattle food festival left three people dead and four wounded, following days of criticism over how slowly the department communicated with the public while a second suspect's status remained unclear.
Court documents indicate at least three shooters were involved, firing into a dense pedestrian area rather than at each other in isolation, which is part of why the casualty count reached bystanders who had no connection to any of the parties involved.
Compounding the problem, Mayor Wilson herself announced early on that two people were in custody, a statement the city later had to retract as inaccurate, undermining public confidence at precisely the moment officials needed it most.
But the timing reopened a running question about how often Barnes, who was appointed chief in late 2024, has been out of the city during his short tenure.
It shapes whether the mayor's office is seen as having acted decisively in a public safety crisis, or as having found a convenient scapegoat for a communications breakdown that also involved her own office's inaccurate statement about arrests being made.
Chief Shon Barnes stepped down four days after a shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival killed three and wounded four, amid criticism of the department's slow public communication and a contested account of whether he resigned or was forced out.