Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson came under sharp criticism from the city’s former police chief, who pushed back on scrutiny of his decision to work while away from Seattle after a fatal mass shooting.
Shon Barnes, 51, said his trips to see family in Chicago and to take part in law enforcement conferences did not interfere with his responsibilities as Seattle police chief, rejecting claims that his time outside the city left him disengaged from the job.
Barnes addressed the controversy on Monday, responding to questions about his travel after he was in Texas for a conference when gunfire erupted at a Seattle food festival, killing three people and injuring four others.
“I immediately began doing exactly what I would have done if I was there,” Barnes said, according to the Seattle Times . “I called the mayor’s office, my boss Alison Holcomb, I made her aware.”
The former Seattle police chief suggested the dispute over his travel became part of a broader effort by the mayor to replace him with a police chief of her own choosing.
Barnes said he received texts regarding the incident within minutes while he attended the conference of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives on July 26.
He noted that he followed the protocol checklist for mass shootings while in Texas, briefed the mayor and spoke to his command staff through Zoom, flying to Seattle the very next morning, the outlet reported.
Barnes argued that he also spoke with Seattle’s FBI Office and Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis, who took command in his absence, according to the Times. Had he been in the city on the day of the incident, Barnes said the only difference would be how the media was handled.
Shon Barnes, 55, defended his travels to visit family in Chicago or attending law enforcement conferences, denying that the trips kept him from his work as Seattle’s police chief
The former police chief believes that part of his firing was due to Wilson’s desire to appoint her own police chief – a trend he said was a common move as a new mayor is appointed
Barnes argued that the mayor had taken aim at his position over her desire to hire her own police chief, especially following tensions over his travels
‘It was never my understanding that the media was not going to be briefed,’ he said.
‘It was never my understanding that there was going to be any delay or that the media had not been briefed.’
Barnes said that, had he been there, he would have gone to the scene personally and directly briefed the media and public on the incident.
On the day, there was a five-hour delay in briefing the public and Wilson’s mayoral statement contained inaccurate information, the Times reported.
The police chief was caught berating a reporter for questioning his whereabouts, despite fury over his department issuing several statements with factual errors in the aftermath of the shooting.
At the first press conference following the shooting, Barnes refused to refer to the shooters as ‘gangs,’ and instead referred to ‘small groups that appear to be at odds with each other.’
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Barnes was then filmed in a hostile confrontation with a reporter who questioned why he was not in Seattle, as he squared up to the journalist and insisted he had been ‘working as hard as I can for this city.’
‘I wish that I had a crystal ball and we could schedule gun violence, but we can’t,’ he said.
Barnes said that, had he been there, he would have gone to the scene personally and directed briefing the media and public on the incident. On the day, there was a five hour delay in briefing the public and Wilson’s mayoral statement contained inaccurate information
Scrutiny of Barnes erupted following reports that he was not in Seattle to organize his officers in the wake of the tragedy.
In the hours after the shooting, his department failed to promptly warn residents that a second armed suspect was still at large, and the first press conference was reportedly delayed by over five hours.
The city also reportedly failed to activate AlertSeattle, an official emergency notification system, in the hours after the shooting.
Barnes was forced to resign four days after the deadly shooting.
Wilson’s decision ignited fury and led to a rally at city hall organized by several groups in Seattle, including the NAACP, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Byrd Barr Place and Community Passageways.
The former police chief, however, believes that part of his firing was due to Wilson’s desire to appoint her own police chief – a trend he said was a common move as a new mayor is appointed.
According to the Times, Seattle hasn’t had a two-term mayor in nearly 20 years, which can explain the position’s high turnover.
Barnes said that the police department hasn’t seen a chief hold the position for more than two years in almost two decades. Barnes served as police chief for a little over a year.
Barnes addressed the criticism fired at his travels while working for the city after he had been in Texas at a conference when three people were killed and four wounded in a shooting at a Seattle food festival
Upon meeting Wilson for the first time, Barnes said he felt their conversation was reminiscent of an interview rather than a chance to get to know him. He cited a sense of tension between himself and Wilson over issues such as the Seattle Police Department’s real-time crime center.
Following Wilson’s election, Barnes’s position as chief didn’t appear to be guaranteed, leading him to the decision to not uproot his family in Chicago.
‘From day one, there wasn’t a day that did not go by where someone did not tell me when the day was going to come,’ he said.
Barnes said his wife and children had arrived in Seattle to visit on the same day he lost his job, the Times reported.
The Daily Mail reached out to Wilson’s office and the Seattle Police Department for comment.