(The Center Square) – A King County jury on Thursday found the city of Seattle negligent in its handling of the 2020 Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, or CHOP, zone, awarding nearly $31 million to the family of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr., who was fatally shot during the protests.
Mays was shot by an unknown person(s) on June 29, 2023, in the chaotic, barricaded zone that was set up in Seattle in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin the previous month.
No suspects have been officially identified or arrested for May’s murder.
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed by his father, alleging that the area was abandoned by police and that first responders were delayed in providing aid, causing him to bleed out.
The Center Square reached out to the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, asking if the city planned to appeal the verdict.
“Antonio Mays Jr.’s death was a tragedy,” a City Attorney’s Office spokesperson emailed The Center Square. “We will assess the city’s options going forward.”
This is a developing story.
