Father sues Seattle over son's 2020 death inside 'CHOP' protest zone: It was not a 'summer of love'
Antonio Mays, Jr. was shot and killed inside Seattle's CHOP zone in 2020.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Antonio Mays, Sr. is suing the City of Seattle after his 16-year-old son was shot and killed in the ‘CHOP’ zone in 2020. Mays said the city’s slow response is the reason for his son’s death.
Protesters occupied the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, originally called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, in the weeks following George Floyd’s killing by a police officer in May 2020. As demonstrations and outrage grew nationwide, violence and looting increased as well.
Mays noted on "America’s Newsroom" Thursday that cities across the country were taking steps and reaching out to the National Guard in order to maintain control and rein in the violence.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This one city is the only city that didn’t do that," he told host Sandra Smith.
CHOP is spray painted on a barricade, Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Mays explained that the city, rather than moving police into the protest zone, funded what was essentially a civilian police team to monitor the area.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"That doesn’t seem to be the protocol for the rest of the nation, so I don’t know why this particular city took that stance," he said.
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Evan Oshan, Mays attorney, said assault rifles were handed out to the makeshift police force and claims city officials were working with an individual who was leading the pseudo-police effort. He said he plans to investigate the city’s involvement as Mays’ case moves forward.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oshan said there was a "tremendous amount of violence" and noted that another young man was killed in the CHOP zone nine days before Antonio Mays, Jr.’s death.
"There was plenty of notice," Oshan said. "The city, the state, the county, they were all on notice."
He said the city denied former President Trump’s offer to send the National Guard.
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The Seattle mayor’s office released this statement in response to the lawsuit: "The death of a child from gun violence is a tragedy that no family should have to endure. Mayor Harrell trusts that the city will respond to the claim and any related litigation in an appropriate manner."
Mays, Sr., however, maintained the city should have acted sooner.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The way that they were pitching it was ‘The Summer of Love’ and what have you. It clearly was not," he said.