One teenager has been left dead and another one injured following a clash at Seattle’s CHOP zone during which several hundred rounds were allegedly fired.
Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, initially called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, is a self-declared police-free zone where demonstrations and speeches have started taking place some three weeks ago.
Due to the clashes with the authorities, the police abandoned their local precinct building, leaving the area police-free.
While peaceful protests and gatherings initially filled the area, things have recently spiraled out of control with at least six people getting shot in the last ten days.
According to a voluntary medic working in the area, CHOP now looks like an “active war zone.”
In a recent clash within the zone, one teen had been killed and another one left injured after armed security opened fire and allegedly shot several hundred bullets at the vehicle the teens were driving in.
According to the self-proclaimed security guards, they only returned fire after the two teens rammed into a barricade and started shooting at them.
Warning people to stay away from the police-free zone was Marty Jackson, a voluntary medic who described CHOP as an “active war zone” in an interview with KUOW.
“Because now it’s like pretty much an active war zone. Now you have security and medical always looking around waiting to see the next,” he said.
Following the retreat of the local police, several blocks around the precinct have been occupied by protesters. While the City brought down some of the barriers on Tuesday, the demonstrators managed to set them up again just hours later using trash cans, furniture, and plastic barriers.
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Replaced!