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This story has been clouded from the beginning. As best I can tell, the shooter was a pro-Milo person, and the "shootee" was one of the anarchist thugs trying to shut down the event. Things were confused by the shooter describing the "victim" as a "white supremacist," which some view as sarcasm.

There'a a 30-second video of the incident on YouTube. A yellow-hatted man at the far right of the picture moves towards the center, apparently to assist someone who's being beaten up by the protesters. As he approaches the center, the attacker turns on him and punches him.

The yellow-hatted man moves away from the attacker, back to the right, but is hemmed in by the crowd. He turns back towards the attacker, is punched again, pulls out a gun, and shoots the attacker. That is MY interpretation of what happened, based on the video.

The shooter, whoever he was (yellow-hatted man or not), was released "pending further investigation." This does not mean that no charges will be filed. If the situation was as a described, there's definitely a self-defense component, and I think the worst-case scenario would be assault with a deadly weapon (assuming the "victim" survives), but I think a lesser charge is more likely under the circumstances.

I put the word "victim" in quotes because I think the man who was shot had been assaulting people.

No joke.

There is a photograph that must have been taken just an instant after the guy was shot. The guy is white wearing a black leather jacket. He is being held up standing by three other people, all dressed in black, one with a helmet and mask, another with just a mask. Typical garb for the Anarchists that show up in Seattle for these things. Not to say that the victim was an Anarchist, but from the photo it sure looks like he was standing right there with him. three of them are all focused on something just off the photograph - probably the shooter, a 50-something Asian guy.

The shooter turned himself an hour or two after the shooting. The shooting victim was in critical condition - still is I hear, but stable. As they carted him off his arm was exposed (on TV) and I saw a bunch of tattoos. One was of a swastika. Although his friends say that it is a swastika with a red circle and line through it - so it is an “anti-hate tattoo”. (I don’t doubt that, but the red line and circle did not stand out). His friends say he was a peaceful guy, and wanted Bernie Sanders for president.

Somebody on twitter said the guy was beating someone else up with brass knuckles, but I haven’t seen anymore about that - might have just been made up. Lots of witnesses, including the professional news photographer that must have been right there when it happened. 15 feet away in the photo people are still smiling, not reacting or knowing what had happened yet.

My son had tickets for the Milo event but they were not allowed in by the police - only the VIP’s that Milo’s group recognized were allowed in - probably so a violent protestor didn’t get in.

My son stayed for awhile and more protestors came, jars with paint and bricks were being thrown, some Trump supporters beat up. Firecrackers. He said he was there when the shooting happened but didn’t know about it - it was so crazy and loud.

The cops did tell them they were going to disperse those not legally supposed to be there.

“But we have tickets!”
“Except we’re not allowing you in - so you need to leave.”
“Okay, when do you want us to leave?”
“Now would be good.”

My son said that the cops pointed them around the side of the building and away from the main crowd of protestors. As they were leaving the cops moved in on the protestors with pepper spray. Even the newscaster was surprised.

“Okay, the police have just given the order to disperse, so we’ll see how this..... oh - they are already deploying pepper spray and pushing the protestors back! That was quick!”

https://libcom.org/news/fellow-worker-gdc-member-shot-anti-fascist-protest-seattle-22012017

On the evening of Friday, January 20th, a comrade of ours was shot in the stomach in the most public place on the University of Washington’s campus in Seattle – a place called “Red Square” for the color of its bricks rather than its politics.

This Fellow Worker (what members of the IWW call ourselves) and Defender (for GDC members) is a longtime anti-fascist and dedicated activist, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the General Defense Committee of the IWW. He’s currently in critical condition at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. They have a Level One Trauma center, so it’s likely he is receiving the best quality care available, for which we are deeply grateful.