A Black Life Lost in Seattle’s No-Cop Zone

This is the story of a black life that didn’t matter enough, of a young man who died in a place where politicians didn’t want the police to leave. The story begins with what Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan called the “Summer of Love” and ends with a 19-year-old who died from gunshot wounds.

After the assassination of George Floyd last May, protests turned into unrest in many cities. Seattle was particularly chaotic. Police withdrew from the city’s East Precinct in early June and armed anarchists took control of several blocks near Cal Anderson Park. They declared the area the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” and advertised it as being police-free.

“It’s not an armed takeover. It’s not a military junta, ”the mayor told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on June 12. “We have block parties and the like in this part of Seattle all the time.” Councilor Kshama Sawant called for the area to be “permanently under community control” and the police station replaced with “a community center for restorative justice.”

About a week later, Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. went to check out the occupied zone. He never came home. “Obviously it wasn’t that peaceful,” says his mother Donnitta Sinclair.

On August 5, King County prosecutors charged Marcel Long, now 19, with first degree murder. He and Anderson had a history of hostility. Prosecutors allege that when they met on the streets of the autonomous zone, Mr. Long drew a handgun. Anderson backed away and ran, and others in attendance tried to hold Mr. Long back, but he broke out, the court records say. A sobbing witness later told police that the victim tripped or fell and was “lying on his back, ‘lying hopelessly'” when the killer shot him. Anderson suffered “multiple gunshot wounds” that ultimately killed him, according to court records. This happened within blocks of the abandoned police station.