Free Republic

Seattle saw a staggering 525 percent spike in crime as a result of the violence that swept through the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone, according to Mayor Jenny Durkan. Durkan’s emergency order booting protesters from the six-block cop-free zone makes mention of the “narcotics use and violent crime, including rape, robbery, assault, and increased gang activity” within the CHOP since it first emerged in early June. ... The CHOP crime spree includes the deaths of two black teens, ages 19 and 16, who were fatally shot in separate incidents.

Seattle police say a “violent crowd” prevented them reaching two shooting victims — one whom later died — inside the city’s autonomous protest zone Saturday. Officers responded around 2:30 a.m. local time Saturday to a report of shots fired at Cal Anderson Park inside the area referred to as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), according to a police statement. “It’s the summer of chaos,” said Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild in an interview on Fox News Saturday. “Early this morning that violence was raw and real. … One of...

A 19-year-old man was shot early Saturday morning at the CHOP. Another man is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. Seattle police officers arrived to the scene around 2:30 a.m. after reports of gun shots. They said a crowd prevented them from finding a shooting victim. They later learned that CHOP medics took the victims to Harborview where the 19-year-old later died. (snip) Though we await confirmation of the details of the killing, there are indications that this may have been a right-wing attack. If so, this would not be the first such attack on the Capitol Hill Black...