New video analysis reshapes understanding of 2020 Seattle protest shooting
A joint review of dozens of videos from June 2020 reveals that a Black teenager was shot by members of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest after a stolen Jeep entered the encampment, and the case remains unsolved.
An 18-month investigation combining surveillance cameras, livestreams and citizen recordings has produced the most detailed reconstruction yet of a June 29, 2020 shooting inside Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP). A stolen white Jeep entered the encampment, prompting armed protesters to open fire from a Nissan Pathfinder and other positions. The Jeep’s three occupants—Antonio Mays Jr., 16, Robert West, 14, and an unnamed teen—were hit; Mays was killed, West was critically wounded, and the third teen was grazed before fleeing.
The video review shows no clear evidence that the Jeep fired any shots. Police have made no arrests, and the homicide case remains open. The findings overturn the earlier belief that the teens were the aggressors, indicating they were shot by members of the protest movement. The story highlights lingering unanswered questions from the chaotic CHOP era.
Why it matters
It clarifies a high-profile unsolved killing and challenges assumptions about protest-era violence.
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