Prosecutors File Charges In Deadly CHOP Shooting

SEATTLE, WA — King County prosecutors have filed charges of premeditated murder against a man wanted in the shooting death of 19-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr., inside the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone on June 20.

Prosecutors say Marcel Long shot Anderson multiple times and immediately fled the state. Investigators are still working to determine his location.

According to charging documents filed Wednesday, one video shows Long approach Anderson on the street, before pulling out a handgun and chasing the victim as he runs away. Prosecutors say a group attempted to hold Long back, but he broke free and continued chasing Anderson, leading to the shooting.

Investigators said they identified the suspect within one day of the shooting.

In a case investigation report, Detective Timothy DeVore writes that 911 calls reporting the shooting at 10th Avenue and East Pine Street began to come in at 2:20 a.m. According to DeVore, officers entered the CHOP zone at 2:35 a.m. and were confronted by an "aggressive and volatile crowd," who told them Anderson had already been taken from the scene.

A recent analysis of events by KUOW revealed a breakdown in communication between police and fire crews, rather than the actions of protesters, slowed the emergency response at the shooting scene.

According to the police report, Anderson was dropped off at Harborview Medical Center at 2:43 a.m. and was pronounced dead 10 minutes later. DeVore writes that detectives were unable to establish a perimeter around the crime scene and collect evidence, as officers "had been excluded from this location."

Police said several witnesses contacted investigators in the following days, including a person working at a medical tent that night and a person with the area's volunteer security force who collected shell casings from the shooting area.

Using the tips provided, social media, and "extremely high quality" surveillance video, police said they were able to positively identify Long as the suspected shooter. Seattle investigators also contacted a Bellevue Police detective, who interviewed Long in late 2019, and said the man seen in surveillance images was the same person.

Police are still searching for the suspect, but an arraignment hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19. A judge authorized a warrant to arrest Long and hold him on $2 million bail.

Detectives are still searching for suspects wanted in a separate, non-fatal shooting in the area on June 20, and another deadly shooting on June 29.