'Incredible young man': Boy released from hospital after downtown Seattle shooting
SEATTLE — A 9-year-old boy was released from the hospital Friday after being shot in downtown Seattle Wednesday evening. He was treated at Harborview Medical Center for a gunshot wound to his femur.
Judah, from Port Orchard, was walking with his family and fellow Jehovah's Witnesses through downtown Seattle on Wednesday around 5 p.m. They had just visited the Pacific Science Center and were walking back to the ferry.
As the group crossed 3rd & Pine, Judah was caught in the gunfire of a dispute and a bullet went through his femur, shattering the bone in places.
Despite the traumatic experience, family friend Erik Larson said Judah has stayed in good spirits.
"He's an incredible young man," Larson said. "He and his family set such a great example. In the face of adversity and hardship, I'm encouraged. I'm heartened."
Jon Scholes, head of the Downtown Seattle Association, praised officers who heard the gunshots and rushed to aid Judah and other shooting victims.
The boy was among eight people shot at the busy 3rd & Pine intersection in downtown Seattle at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
One suspect, who was also shot, was treated at Harborview and then taken into police custody.
Police are still searching for two suspects, Marquise Latrelle Tolbert and William Ray Tolliver. Both men are 24 years old and are considered armed and dangerous, according to police.
The suspects have a combined 65 arrests.
RELATED: Remaining suspects in deadly Seattle shooting have 65 combined arrests
The woman who died has been identified as 50-year-old Tanya Jackson.
She was a tenant at Plymouth Housing, a non-profit that helps people experiencing homelessness improve their lives.
Another shooting victim, a 55-year-old woman, was also a tenant at Plymouth Housing and remains in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit.
A spokesperson for Plymouth Housing said in a statement, "As part of our permanent supportive housing model, our buildings become close-knit communities; these women were like family to many. Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and neighbors of all the victims.
A 32-year-old man who was shot remains in satisfactory condition at Harborview.
Four men ages 34, 35, 49 and the 21-year-old suspect were treated and released, according to hospital officials. The suspect was taken immediately into custody.
The shooting happened around 5 p.m., and police said it does not appear to be random. The violence apparently stemmed from a fight outside McDonald's.
"Witnesses told investigators that two or more male suspects were in a disturbance and began shooting at each other. They fled the scene immediately following the shooting," Seattle police said in a report.
RELATED: 'It was chaos': Witnesses describe deadly Seattle shooting
The city pledged to add extra patrols in downtown Seattle since the latest melee.
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said the public can expect to see police officers near 3rd Avenue and Pine Street until further notice.
Seattle police are reviewing surveillance videos from nearby businesses and are searching for the suspects involved. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting Seattle police with the investigation.
Seattle police ask if you have any information about suspects, photos, or video evidence of the shooting, to call their tip line at (206) 233-5000 or share at this link.
“I extend my support, and that of our City, to the victims and their families," Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement. "I also want to express my profound gratitude to our first responders who worked quickly to help those who needed it. The men and women of the Seattle Police Department and the Seattle Fire Department work every day to keep our city safe. I am also grateful to our partners at the King County Sheriff’s Office for their support during this incident."
A bullet hole was found in a King County Metro bus near the scene, but it's unclear if the bus was in service at the time of the shooting.
A witness told KING 5 she was in a coffee shop nearby when she heard a flurry of gunfire.
“Everyone just went to the ground, and as we were looking out the windows, people were running,” said Alex Bennett.
Bennett is a former nurse and rushed to help one of the victims.
“I was helping the guy who had been shot in the leg and texting his wife for him and trying to keep him calm,” explained Bennett.
She said police responded and put a tourniquet on the man's leg and he was taken to the hospital for treatment.
"I've never experienced anything like this in my life," she said.
Another witness who was heading to the Link light rail station also heard the gunfire and said he ran into the light rail station to get help from police officers there.
“I just saw terror on people’s faces, they were all running,” said Douglas Converse. “It was chaos.”
Link light rail service to Westlake and University District was suspended while police responded to the area, but service has since resumed.
This shooting occurred shortly after Seattle police responded to an officer-involved shooting at 3rd Avenue and Blanchard Street in Belltown around 3 p.m. The suspect in that shooting was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and no officers were hurt.
Chief Best said the two shootings do not appear to be related, but the crimes do have people who live and work in that area on edge.
The Downtown Seattle Association released a statement Wednesday in response to the downtown shooting saying in part "enough is enough."
"Our hearts go out to the victims of tonight’s shooting in downtown Seattle and we commend the Seattle Police and Fire Departments for their swift response to this tragedy. Criminal activity around Third and Pine has been persistent for far too long and too often has led to violence and innocent lives lost. The heart of our city should feel safe and welcoming for all who live, work and visit here. We call on public officials to devote the resources necessary to improve safety in downtown and take back Third Avenue from the criminals who have laid claim to it. On behalf of residents, small business owners, employers and visitors, we say enough is enough."
Just the day before, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, a man was found shot in the stairwell to Westlake Center. He later died from his injuries. No suspects were arrested in that shooting.
The victim in the Westlake Center shooting was identified as 55-year-old Martin Codd.
Chief Best reiterated Wednesday night investigators do not believe that any of these shootings are related.
Kristen Bell Opens Up About ‘Pretty Incredible Fight’ With Husband Dax Shepard: ‘We Both Blacked Out’
Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell. Photo: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard may exude couple goals, but they get into fights just like everyone else — and they can get intense.
Bell revealed that when she appeared on the "Life Is Short with Justin Long" podcast on Tuesday, and opened up about a recent argument that was apparently a doozy.
“Something happened with Dax and I early on where we decided we were never going to not be asked about our relationship,” the "Good Place" star told host Justin Long. “So if we were going to talk about it, let’s make sure we show the good, the bad and the ugly and how we handle it. Let’s not make it saccharin, and we really try hard to not make it saccharin, and we talk about the fact that we do fight, we do go to therapy, we dislike each other a lot sometimes.”
RELATED: Kristen Bell And Dax Shepard Navigate Teaching Their Daughter About The Middle Finger
She shared an example of a recent disagreement that she described as a "pretty incredible fight... Incredible. I mean like top of the lungs screaming.”
What led to the fight is something that most couples can probably relate to. "It was about the things around the house that I felt I needed to help with," Bell explained. "We have a relationship where you are supposed to be able to say I need your help with this. For those of you listening, I’m telling this from my perspective. He’s not here, he can’t defend himself.”
RELATED: Kristen Bell Gives Friend A Creepy Mould Of Dax Shepard’s Severed Head As A Gift
According to Bell, she was on her way to work and left a note for Shepard about a couple of chores she needed him to do.
“I left a note and I was like, ‘Hey dad! Would you mind taking the two towels in the dryer and folding them’ and then like one other thing. I thought, ‘That’s 10 minutes of work, I can say that.’ At that point, the house [work] was getting to be a lot for me. The keeping up with the mom stuff, the shoes being outgrown, all of that,” she said.
“So I left this note and I came home on Sunday, everything was fine. Monday night we’re laying in bed and… he goes, ‘When you leave me notes, yeah, I feel really controlled,’ and he launched into how he felt about it.”
RELATED: Kristen Bell Remembers The First Time She Met Dax Shepard: ‘He Talked So Much’
According to Bell, she took a moment before responding, and replied, "Okay, I totally hear you. It will never happen again. If I need something to be done around the house what is a way I can do it, that you’d be okay with hearing?”
Things went downhill from there. “And somehow, then we both blacked out and got into a fight and I don’t actually remember what happened but what transpired was a lot of volume, a lot of harsh words being thrown around, and it was an angry, angry fight about how nobody does anything for anybody else,” Bell said. “I grabbed my pillow and stomped down the hall and I sleep in the front room and I’m crying. We don’t talk for three days.”
Shepard eventually found a way to make it up to her — by introducing her to a rescue dog. "I didn’t get an apology, but I got a dog!” Bell joked. “This is so much better than an apology. So I bring the dog home, it’s great.”
RELATED: Kristen Bell Reveals Dax Shepard Has Been Teaching Their 6-Year-Old Daughter How To Ride A Motorcycle
She added, “We never talked about that fight, ever, but I will say this: Every single thing that I have needed done or thought, ‘I’d want help with this,’ since that fight, he has been ahead of. I couldn’t complain about him if I tried right now.”
‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ Review: The Casual Cruelty of an Anti-Abortion Country | Sundance 2020
Abortion is a contentious issue, and I imagine an indie film about it that doesn’t have movie stars won’t draw in anyone who hasn’t already made up their minds about being pro-choice or anti-abortion. And yet, watching Eliza Hittman’s moving drama, my concerns about the film’s efficacy of its advocacy slipped away as I was drawn further into the crushing normalcy of a casually cruel system that makes women endure an endless barrage of indignities. Watching the two young women at the center of Never Rarely Sometimes Always is devastating it just because of the incredible performances and confident direction, but because we know that the experience depicted is heartbreakingly common among women seeking an abortion.
Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) is a 17-year-old living in rural Pennsylvania who learns she has an unplanned pregnancy. Unable to tell her parents about it and with the local clinic pressuring her to give birth, Autumn confides in her cousin and friend Skylar (Talia Ryder). Together, they decide to go to New York City where Autumn will be able to get an abortion. However, as they make the trek by bus and subway and from clinic to clinic, the two teenagers are frequently confronted by their lack of money, a support system, and an onslaught of terrible men looking to prey upon them at every turn. What should be a simple procedure for a young woman who wants control of her body and her life instead becomes a harrowing odyssey fraught with roadblocks.
Because abortion is a hot-button issue (I’m a priveleged white guy, so I get to refer to abortion as an “issue” removed from myself because no one will ever pass a law telling me what I can and can’t do with my reproductive organs), some folks won’t be able to see anything more in this story. It will be an “issue” film and because it’s an indie, one that’s unlikely to change opinions. If you’re anti-abortion, you’ll feel repulsed by Autumn’s choices and think she’s a baby killer. If you’re pro-choice, you’ll be reminded to donate to Planned Parenthood. Viewing the film through the lens of advocacy narrows Never Rarely Sometimes Always because then it’s only judged by what it does or does not accomplish on a societal level, which is an impossible burden for any single movie.
Image via Focus Features
Instead, Never Rarely Sometimes Always is best viewed not as a movie about changing hearts and minds as much as making it as experiential as possible. To use a recent example, the movie 1917 has a clear point of view on the nature of war, but it chooses to tell its story by attaching you to two people who could stand in for countless others. That’s a difficult needle to thread because you don’t want your lead characters to be ciphers, but you also want their story to be broad enough to encompass similar tales. Hittman manages that balance perfectly as we can’t help but empathize with the plight of Autumn and Skylar. Everything about these two teenagers feels lived-in and authentic in terms of their chemistry and their struggle without simply making them stand in for every economically disadvantaged teenager looking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Both actresses are a revelation here and they demand our compassion not through big, dramatic speeches, but through little moments. When Autumn is answering a questionnaire at Planned Parenthood, Hittman keeps the camera locked in on Flanigan’s face and we’re told an entire story without ever having to hear the exact narrative. That’s not to keep Autumn’s tale vague, but because Hittman trusts us to understand what has happened while staying true to her protagonist’s stoic nature. Autumn isn’t much of a talker, but we need to understand where exactly she’s coming from, and the questionnaire scene broke me. The whole film is hard, but the questionnaire scene absolutely broke me.
Hittman doesn’t need to get flashy or swing for a big moment because what hooks you about Never Rarely Sometimes Always is the “normalcy” of it all. There’s nothing spectacular about the lack of abortion providers or the hidden costs of trying to obtain an abortion or the “clinics” that deceive young women to suit an anti-abortion agenda rather than the needs of the patient. All of this is treated as normal in America and it leads to a teenager like Autumn punching herself in the stomach in her bedroom hoping to induce a miscarriage. I don’t know who that system works for, but it certainly doesn’t work for the person who’s actually pregnant.
It would be nice to say “Reasonable people can disagree about abortion,” but Never Rarely Sometimes Alwaysshows why that’s not true. There’s a real cost to how this system is set up, and Hittman perfectly walks us through what that cost entails. If you think the only thing it costs is disagreement, then you’re probably not worried about a situation like Autumn’s. You’re free to dismiss this movie as pro-choice propaganda, but the pro-choice crowd isn’t out here setting up fake abortion clinics to dupe pregnant women. You can call Never Rarely Sometimes Alwaysjust another aborition movie, but the likely Best Picture winner isn’t treated as just another war movie. I guess that says something about which battles the world considers worthy of attention. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is about two women fighting through a cruel hell of our own devising. Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter.
Rating: A
Never Rarely Sometimes Always opens in theaters March 13th.
For more of our Sundance 2020 reviews, click the links below:
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