Police identified a 15-year-old and a 19-year-old as gunmen behind the deadly shooting that turned a Seattle food festival into a chaotic nightmare on Sunday. Authorities also said they are looking for &#8220;a third possible suspect&#8221; in the shooting.
The two teens opened fire in a large crowd that included young children, resulting in the death of 19-year-old gunman Junior Cee Niko Semo, who was hit by multiple rounds of gunfire, according to the medical examiner. Two other people were also shot and killed: Ashley Whitehead, 56, and Carlos Israel Sanchez Villalba, 44. Four people, including a 2-year-old boy, were wounded in the shooting.
Police believe the deadly shooting could be gang-related and that the two teenagers were &#8220;associates.&#8221; The 15-year-old has not been named by authorities and is currently being held in juvenile detention.
Shots rang out at around 6:00 p.m. PT at the Bite of Seattle food festival, an annual free weekend-long event that typically attracts 350,000 people. When police arrived on the scene, two people were seen shooting at each other and officers immediately sought to chase down the suspects while other officers provided first aid to the wounded, according to the Seattle Police Department.
One suspect was taken into custody &#8220;within seconds,&#8221; Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said on Monday evening.
Three of the shooting victims were found in the direction where the 15-year-old suspect is believed to have fired, including the toddler who was with his mother when he was struck by gunfire, according to court documents, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/seattle-food-festival-shooting-may-gang-related-prosecutors-say-rcna589412">reported</a>. The toddler is currently in stable condition and recovering well.
After the shooting, Seattle authorities have faced criticism over the city&#8217;s response to the shooting and have gotten into heated exchanges with reporters. City officials are facing questions over why they waited nearly five hours to provide an update on the shooting, especially considering one of the gunmen was at-large.
Leftist mayor opened her press conference on Sunday with a discussion on “gun violence,&#8221; arguing that the city and the country have “a lot of work to do … to make this better.”
A reporter chimed in shortly into the mayor&#8217;s spiel, asking her to get to the information on the shooting. “I get your passion, mayor, but we need to know what happened tonight, please.”
Then, on Monday, a reporter asked Shon Barnes why he wasn&#8217;t in the city on Sunday night when the shooting occurred. The city&#8217;s assistant police chief handled the immediate response and the initial press briefing on Sunday night.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have to tell you where I go,&#8221; Barnes told a KOMO News reporter. &#8220;I have a medical procedure I gotta do on Friday. &#8230; You need to know this: I have been here working as hard as I can for this city from the day I got here. You got that?&#8221;
&#8220;There are reports that you are out of town often,&#8221; the reporter pressed.
&#8220;Their reports are wrong, you understand?&#8221; the chief shot back as another man stepped in between him and the reporter.
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 400px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/5zv3xeuq3Ifb5p3ELnVuHZ00uVPaKvp2S?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=51866766-d433-4bc9-b704-4cceaf22f82e&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=2026-07-28%20Where%20is%20the%20Seattle%20police%20chief%3F!%20&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2Fe661d16d-36bb-47be-8fda-96d9a21a9866.png&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>

Shooting Leaves Multiple Killed And Injured In Seattle

Police Identify Teens As Suspects Behind Deadly Shooting At Family-Friendly Festival

Crime

Mass Shooting

Police

Seattle

Shooting

Washington

Three people were killed and four more were wounded when at least two gunmen opened fire at a bustling food festival beneath the Space Needle in Seattle on Sunday.
Shots rang out at around 6:00 p.m. PT at the Bite of Seattle food festival, an annual free weekend-long event that typically attracts 350,000 people. When police arrived on the scene, two people were seen shooting at each other and officers immediately sought to chase down the suspects while other officers provided first aid to the wounded, according to the Seattle Police Department, ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/multiple-people-shot-seattle-center-police/story?id=135108867">reported</a>.
One of the suspects was found and taken into custody on Sunday evening, but police are still searching for the other suspect as of Monday morning. It remains unclear if the gunmen were only targeting each other or if they purposely fired at other festival attendees.
While one suspect remains on the loose, Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3lMwXrLfGA">said</a> at a press conference on Sunday night that there is no ongoing threat to the community. Police recovered two weapons at the scene of the shooting.
In a press conference on Sunday night, leftist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson opened the briefing to discuss &#8220;gun violence&#8221; and argue that the city and the country have &#8220;a lot of work to do &#8230; to make this better.&#8221; As the mayor lectured about &#8220;gun violence,&#8221; a reporter cut in, saying, &#8220;I get your passion, mayor, but we need to know what happened tonight, please.&#8221;
The mayor then turned the press conference over to the assistant police chief to go through the details of the shooting.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third person died later at the hospital, according to Davis. Those killed were a 19-year-old man, a 44-year-old man, and a 56-year-old woman. A 2-year-old boy was among the four people wounded and is in stable condition in an area hospital. Michael Girardi, a man who witnessed the shooting, told The Seattle Times that the toddler&#8217;s mother was &#8220;in anguish&#8221; as her son was being treated by paramedics. The young boy appeared to be conscious and wasn&#8217;t crying, according to Girardi.
A 23-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman are also in stable condition, while a 40-year-old woman with minor injuries declined to be transported to a hospital.
&#8220;Thankfully, we had officers on the scene that were brave, went to those shots, and prevented more victims from being injured,&#8221; Davis said.
Estan Wakonabo <a href="https://apnews.com/article/seattle-center-shooting-food-festival-space-needle-90548c65364e742a97fb7cb0fea31209">told</a> the Associated Press that he and his girlfriend were waiting in line for a photo booth at the festival when he was pushed in the back and turned around to see chaos.
“People were hiding, were pushing, people were falling on the ground, baby strollers were falling,” Wakonabo said.

Family-Friendly Festival Turns Into Horrific Nightmare As Gunmen Open Fire

Death

The final FIFA World Cup game hosted in Seattle ended in the disappointing loss of the United States to Belgium. But for Seattle, a city so overcome by drug addiction, mental illness, and street-level homelessness, the weeks-long event was a smashing success.
Downtown sparkled as it welcomed visitors from around the world for the six games it hosted at Lumen Field, rebranded Seattle Stadium for the tournament. In addition to exciting games, soccer fans enjoyed a city with noticeably cleaner streets and few visible signs of homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness that are familiar to residents.
But this is not what long-term success looks like.
Mayor Katie Wilson and her team did not clean up the city. They simply moved the problem elsewhere, like a child shoving his toys under the bed when told to clean his room.
Under Wilson’s direction, the homeless were swept out of downtown and pushed into surrounding neighborhoods and minority communities already struggling with crime and disorder.
Journalist Jonathan Choe <a href="https://fixhomelessness.org/?s=chinatown&amp;from=&amp;to=&amp;author=&amp;orderby=relevance&amp;site-current-site=1">regularly reports</a> on the plight of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, an Asian American community overwhelmed by open-air drug use and stolen-goods markets. Here, many businesses are boarded up, and those that have survived are quickly losing money. Merchants <a href="https://fixhomelessness.org/2026/henrys-taiwan-kitchen-the-real-cost-local-business-owners-pay-for-seattle-homelessness-policies/">report</a> ongoing theft and crime. Parks meant for children and families are instead filled with drug users and paraphernalia. Residents have <a href="https://fixhomelessness.org/2025/seattle-mayor-makes-moves-to-improve-public-safety-in-chinatown/">pleaded</a> with city officials for help, but there has been little response. Choe calls it “the city’s human dumping ground.”
Seattle is not the first to engage in these deceptive city-cleaning tactics. Hiding the homeless is a common occurrence in cities across the nation when they host large events or important national and international figures. The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-homelessness-housing-503d6dd10b274ab1bc5e63782d5e6f0e">noted</a> such instances in New Orleans ahead of the 2025 Super Bowl, Chicago ahead of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, and Atlanta ahead of the 1996 Olympics. The most notorious might be the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/san-francisco-cleans-up-for-xi-why-not-for-thee-242c67e3">cleanup</a> of San Francisco in preparation for Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
These cities appear more concerned with making a good impression on visiting tourists, dignitaries, and soccer fans than with the experiences of residents who live with these conditions year-round.
Those who live and work in downtown Seattle know the reality. Daily commutes often involve navigating not only traffic, but discarded needles, human waste, and individuals who shout, scream, and curse at random. The Emerald City has the third-highest number of individuals experiencing homelessness in the nation, outranked only by Los Angeles and New York City. Despite the city spending millions over the years, the crisis has only worsened.
Seattle is like this because its leaders allow it. One homeless man <a href="https://fixhomelessness.org/2026/homeless-man-says-he-came-to-seattle-because-nowhere-else-tolerates-street-life/">explained</a> that he left his home in Whatcom County, two hours north of Seattle, because the residents there wouldn’t tolerate his lifestyle. He came to Seattle because, in his words, he and his friends can “live how we want to live.”
Under the faulty belief that housing is the solution for this crisis, Seattle and many other cities have poured millions of taxpayer dollars into housing projects that often fail to materialize. For instance, Wilson promised 500 new shelter units ahead of the FIFA World Cup. She <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_eacfc5fa-73e2-45ee-b471-82e48c81dd0c.html">delivered</a> 75 at a cost of $3.95 million — and those units <a href="https://x.com/weheartseattle/status/2066358855794364539">appeared</a> to remain empty 24 hours before the first game. Not a promising start for her larger campaign promise to open 4,000 shelter beds during her first term as mayor.
Even when they finally open, these projects fail to meaningfully change lives. Addicts continue to use illicit drugs, the mentally ill go untreated, and many end up back on the streets. <a href="https://fixhomelessness.org/2024/whistleblower-dies-inside-low-barrier-plymouth-housing-building/">Some die</a>.
Homelessness is not an economic problem. The people living on our streets are not primarily suffering from a lack of housing, but from addiction, untreated mental illness, and broken relationships. This requires a different response than just housing; they need detox, treatment, and help restoring their lives. Hopefully, <a href="https://fixhomelessness.org/2026/hud-re-issues-new-homeless-grant-criteria-freeing-cities-to-ditch-housing-first-pursue-real-solutions/">recent federal reforms</a> will encourage cities in a better direction.
When the World Cup ends, and the visitors return to their home cities, states, and countries, the homeless who were pushed to the outskirts will return, still addicted, still mentally ill, still desperately in need of help. Until these cities take the needs of these individuals seriously and enforce the laws against prostitution, theft, and violence, the homelessness crisis will continue to grow.
The best way to showcase our country’s cities to the world is not to stage a clean downtown for a few weeks. It is to create clean, safe, and thriving cities for their own residents every day.
***
Caitlin Cory writes about homelessness at <a href="https://www.discovery.org/">Discovery Institute</a>. She has been published in The Federalist and the Puget Sound Business Journal. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Maryland.

Coronavirus Pandemic 2022 – Homelessness in America

The Cities Hiding Homelessness For The World Cup

DW Opinion

FIFA

Homelessness

Katie Wilson

LGBTQ activists in Seattle believe a sharp influx of transgender young adults is causing a civil emergency — and they want taxpayer help.
The <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seattle LGBTQ Commission</a> asked Mayor Katie Wilson in a May 2026<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DYfRlKWm3yM/?img_index=2&amp;igsh=MWRkd2toYWwwNjdnMQ%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> letter</a> to declare a civil emergency caused by a mass influx of “transgender and gender-nonconforming” individuals relocating to the city. The commission has asked the city officials to fund cash-strapped LGBTQ+ groups providing shelter and relocation services to transgender refugees.
&#8220;Due to the rapid influx of 2SLGBTQIA+ persons seeking refuge in Seattle for increased safety needs, civil rights protections, and access to essential services the Seattle LGBTQ Commission formally recommends that City leaders declare a civil emergency that ensures an effective and empathetic response to protecting these internally displaced persons (IDPs) at a time of urgent crisis for our community,&#8221; states the letter.
Transplants are coming to Seattle from red states such as Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas, and Idaho &#8220;due to anti-trans legislation, threats to personal safety, and barriers to healthcare and legal recognition,&#8221; according to the letter, which lists several transgender-affirming groups  &#8220;already responding to this crisis.&#8221; The listed groups include Gender Justice League, Seattle&#8217;s LGBTQ+ Center, and Traction, a nonprofit that helps &#8220;red state refugees&#8221; relocate to the Pacific Northwest through its<a href="https://tractionpnw.org/open-arms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Project Open Arms</a> initiative.
&#8220;Hundreds of thousands of Two-Spirit, transgender, nonbinary, gender-diverse, and gender-nonconforming (trans+) people and their families are seeking to escape legislative persecution and violence,&#8221; states Traction&#8217;s<a href="https://tractionpnw.org/open-arms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> website</a>. &#8220;Our goal then and now is to support U.S. &#8216;transplants&#8217; – trans+ people and their loved ones displaced by violence and persecution – seeking safer, more welcoming places to live.&#8221;
C. Michael Woodward, executive director of Traction, told The Daily Wire it&#8217;s had more than 1600 applicants for relocation services since President Trump&#8217;s election but has only been able to help around 130 individuals move, due to resource limitations.
&#8220;I&#8217;m 63 and transitioned nearly 30 years ago. I&#8217;ve been doing trans+ and LGBTQ+ advocacy for almost that long, too,&#8221; Woodward told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Even so, I never once imagined we&#8217;d be doing this kind of work for our community, but here we are.&#8221;
Woodward said the group does not work with unaccompanied minors and has not been &#8220;presented with the opportunity to work with any emancipated youth&#8221; but would &#8220;handle those on a case-by-case basis.&#8221;
Traction is working to build &#8220;a nationwide network of groups doing similar work in other states,&#8221; according to its <a href="https://tractionpnw.org/open-arms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1132095 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/megs-piece.jpeg" alt="" width="1010" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/megs-piece.jpeg 1010w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/megs-piece-300x171.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/megs-piece-768x438.jpeg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1010px) 100vw, 1010px" /></div>
Screenshot from June 25, 2026, Seattle City Council Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes meeting.
Many of Seattle’s transgender transplants are “young adults,” according to<a href="https://www.seattle.gov/lgbtq/who-we-are" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Kody Allen</a>, co-chair of the Seattle LGBTQ Commission and a social worker at a youth homeless shelter, who spoke on a panel about 2SLGBTQIA+ Communities in Seattle at a June 25, 2026,<a href="https://www.seattlechannel.org/mayor-and-council/city-council/2026-2027-select-committee-on-federal-administration-and-policy-changes?videoid=x188271" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> city council meeting</a>.
&#8220;In my day job, I am a program manager for a homeless shelter. We have seen a massive increase in trans&#8211;specifically&#8211;and queer young adults who are coming here from other states,&#8221; said Allen. &#8220;We are turning away 10, at least 10 young adults a night, and we are the biggest shelter in the city. And many, many, many of our clients are trans refugees who have come here.&#8221;
The meeting focused on how changes in federal policy have impacted local funding. Members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ panel discussed how Seattle could build long-term infrastructure to provide social services, such as housing, to the city&#8217;s growing number of transgender refugees. Allen warned groups that provide &#8220;queer&#8221; and &#8220;trans specific healthcare&#8221; are facing a funding crisis and may not be able to stay open throughout the year.
&#8220;If these community-based organizations that are specifically for queer people close, the impact that would have, obviously on the people who use those services, but also every other community-based organization in the city who are also experiencing decreased funding because of the federal&#8211;this federal administration&#8211;would put a huge strain on the system,&#8221; Allen stated.
Dominque Stephens, who was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DVsCsq_DAG_/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appointed</a> by Mayor Wilson as Seattle&#8217;s special advisor on LGBTQ+ affairs, told city council the Mayor&#8217;s office was planning to create transgender homeless shelters.
&#8220;We want to make sure that we&#8217;re doing this in a very intentional way,&#8221; said Stephens. &#8220;We know that in our shelter expansion, there will be a trans specific site that will be stood up.&#8221;
Stephens explained the mayor formed a Trans and Queer Community Stabilization Interdepartmental Team to create long-term transgender infrastructure as the group figures out &#8220;what we do in terms of folks who are migrating here.&#8221;
Seattle City Councilwoman <a href="https://www.seattle.gov/council/members/alexis-mercedes-rinck" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alexis Mercedes Rinck</a> said Seattle needed to &#8220;stand firm&#8221; in welcoming &#8220;queer and trans people.&#8221;
&#8220;Across the country we have seen intense attacks against queer and trans people, both with hostile legislation and physical violence,&#8221; said Rinck at the meeting. &#8220;So, I want to say loud and clear, while we know we have more work to do here in the city of Seattle we need to stand firm in being a welcoming city for queer and trans people.&#8221;
A total of<a href="https://familypolicyalliance.com/help-not-harm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 27 states</a> have passed legislation protecting minors from receiving harmful sex-rejecting medical procedures such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries.
Washington State took a major step towards becoming a transgender sanctuary for minors when former Governor Jay Inslee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/washington-to-allow-shelters-to-keep-runaway-children-from-parents-if-child-seeking-transgender-surgery-abortion?row=0&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;rowType=Web+Search+Overlay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed SB 5599</a> into law in May 2023.  The law allows homeless shelters to shield runaway minors seeking transgender medical procedures without contacting their parents. International Partners for Ethical Care Inc. filed a lawsuit challenging SB 5599 in<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67697823/international-partners-for-ethical-care-inc-v-inslee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> August 2023</a>, arguing it violates the fundamental rights of parents. After being dismissed by a lower court, the Supreme Court announced in June 2026 that it would<a href="https://aflegal.org/press-release/u-s-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-america-first-legals-landmark-case-defending-parents-right-to-challenge-laws-that-hide-their-childrens-gender-transitions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> hear the case on appeal</a>.
&#8220;SB 5599 is directed toward families in Washington state, and sets up a terrifying scenario for parents whose kids have fallen prey to gender ideology,&#8221; a representative from International Partners for Ethical Care told The Daily Wire. &#8220;A child can run away from home in Washington to seek &#8216;gender affirming care&#8217; and the state authorities or shelters where the child may be found are not required by law to notify the parents of the child&#8217;s whereabouts with any urgency.&#8221;
Florida, Idaho, and 14 other red states filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs. The coalition of states expressed concerns the law could impact parents across state lines, writing they &#8220;fear that their own residents whose runaway children cross state lines may be harmed by Washington’s law&#8221; in the<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-840/396471/20260217151332802_Intl%20Partners%20v.%20Ferguson%20-%20Amicus%20Brief%20for%20Filing.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> brief</a>.
International Partners for Ethical Care agreed the law could impact parents nationwide, telling The Daily Wire, &#8220;Nothing in the law&#8217;s language that would prevent it from being applied to children who arrive in Washington from other states.&#8221;
The Daily Wire asked the Seattle LGBTQ Commission and Mayor Wilson&#8217;s office for information on how many of the transgender refugees were 18 and under but did not receive a comment. Mayor Wilson did not provide any additional information on the transgender shelter expansion project discussed at the city council meeting.

Scenes from the Seattle Pride Parade, Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/seattlepi.com, Genna Martin)

Massive Influx Of Transgender Refugees Is Causing ‘Civil Emergency’ In Leftist City

LGBT

Parental Rights

Transgender

Washington State

Seattle’s thin blue line is refusing to bow to City Hall’s woke thought police.
In an attempt to muzzle the rank-and-file, Mayor Katie Wilson’s administration tried to strong-arm the Seattle Police Officers Guild into scrubbing a social media post highlighting a bloody triple shooting. But the cops aren&#8217;t backing down from the anti-police regime. Instead, they’re firing back with a clear message: You won’t intimidate us.
The drama erupted after a horrific ambush outside a Capitol Hill nightclub left three people leaking blood onto the pavement. The police union blasted out a video of the carnage with a direct, common-sense demand: “Mayor Katie, how many more examples do you need? Don&#8217;t take away the vital tools officers rely on.”
The post hammered Wilson for freezing the expansion of city surveillance cameras that feed the Real-Time Crime Center — vital tech desperately needed to hunt down killers while the department suffocates under an unprecedented staffing crisis.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson ordered the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild to DELETE this post criticizing her, per KOMO News.
.<a href="https://x.com/MayorofSeattle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MayorofSeattle</a> really doesn’t want you to see this post! Would be a shame if it went viral! <a href="https://t.co/KJuLWdsrn3">https://t.co/KJuLWdsrn3</a> <a href="https://t.co/9ovpD9mn12">pic.twitter.com/9ovpD9mn12</a>
&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2059747247017824568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But instead of tackling the violent thugs terrorizing Seattle’s streets, Wilson’s spreadsheet warriors immediately weaponized City Hall to protect her fragile ego.
By the next morning, the mayor&#8217;s office fired off a threatening email to Seattle Police Officers Guild President Kent Loux, falsely claiming the post broke police policy and municipal code. The brass-knuckle directive demanded: “Please pull the post immediately.”
“That’s an order,” Loux told <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6_WhDZ4JL0">KOMO</a>, exposing the political hit job. “I looked at the content of the email. I thought, well, that sounds like a threat.”
Making the mayor’s temper tantrum even more embarrassing? City Hall got the facts completely wrong.
The thin-skinned bureaucrats claimed the union leaked sensitive city camera footage. In reality, the video was publicly available, lifted straight from KOMO’s news broadcast. Loux even sent the clueless politicians the link to prove it.
“In no way do I feel like I&#8217;m being unprofessional by alerting the public to a publicly sourced video pointing to the fact that these work and these capture good data for us,” Loux said.
The guild hit the mayor back with a cease-and-desist order, legally freezing any attempts to discipline officers over the free-speech dustup.
Realizing they brought a butter knife to a gunfight, Wilson’s team did a U-turn, retracting their censorship demand and claiming they &#8220;look forward to working with the police union.&#8221;
Don&#8217;t hold your breath. Loux says the guild will keep blasting Wilson’s soft-on-crime lunacy.
“We&#8217;re not changing our tone, our rhetoric,” Loux warned. “We&#8217;re not going to be threatened or intimidated.”

2026 Seattle International Film Festival

Socialist Mayor Orders Police Union To Scrub Post That Called Her Out

Social Media

The NBA took a historic step Wednesday, voting unanimously to explore expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas. After 18 years of waiting, there&#8217;s finally real hope that the SuperSonics are coming home. It&#8217;s genuinely good news for a city that desperately needs something to cheer about.
But leave it to Washington Democrats to find a way to pick the team&#8217;s pockets before it plays a single game.
Seattle has been gutted by years of soft-on-consequences governance. King County&#8217;s homelessness authority tallied a revised 16,868 homeless individuals in its most recent completed count, and the agency&#8217;s own leadership has already signaled the 2026 survey, completed just weeks ago, will push that number higher still. Open-air drug use has become a defining feature of Seattle&#8217;s public spaces, with encampments stretching across parks and neighborhood corridors that once drew shoppers and tourists. Businesses fled. Residents followed. From 2021 to 2022, Washington logged a <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_faf025f3-cf18-4cb7-aa19-907760238841.html">net migration loss</a> of nearly 19,000 people and a $1.66 billion net loss in adjusted gross income.
This is the economic wreckage that Democrat-run Olympia and Seattle City Hall built through years of consequence-free drug policies and hostility to accountability. So when the NBA Board of Governors voted to formally pursue expansion talks with One Roof Sports and Entertainment, the ice hockey team the Kraken&#8217;s umbrella ownership group, fans had every reason to celebrate.
Climate Pledge Arena, a little virtue signal for woke Seattle, is ready. The fanbase never actually left. And for a city that&#8217;s been told for years things are improving while watching them deteriorate, the return of the Sonics is a rare piece of unambiguously good news. A possible 2028-29 season start is now squarely on the table.
The unconstitutional income tax that crashed the party
Here&#8217;s the catch. Just weeks before the NBA made its move, Democrats <a href="https://seattlered.com/seattle-red/jason-rantz-opinion/ferguson-delays-signing-washington-income-tax-sb-6346/4117495">rammed through Senate Bill 6346</a>, a 9.9% income tax on households earning more than $1 million annually. It passed the House 51-46 after Republicans waged a historic 25-hour floor fight, then cleared the Senate 27-21. Gov. Bob Ferguson has pledged to sign it.
Republicans called it exactly what it is. A 1933 Washington Supreme Court ruling established that income is property under the state constitution, meaning it must be taxed at a uniform rate. Democrats are betting courts will reverse nearly a century of precedent. That is a bold gamble with other people&#8217;s money.
Visiting players are on the hook
Here is what most fans celebrating the expansion news haven&#8217;t fully absorbed: SB 6346 doesn&#8217;t just hit Seattle residents. The bill codifies duty-day apportionment rules for nonresident athletes, meaning every opposing NBA team that walks into Climate Pledge Arena will owe Washington state a cut of income earned during those games. Tax professionals call this a &#8220;jock tax,&#8221; and Washington has never had one until now.
The math is ugly. For an NBA player earning $35 million a season, a two-game road trip to Seattle could generate over $800,000 in Washington-sourced income subject to the 9.9% rate, after only a minimal prorated deduction. Add coaches and high-earning staff, and a visiting team&#8217;s aggregate tax exposure for a single Seattle road stop could run several hundred thousand dollars.
This also changes the Sonics&#8217; own competitive position in free agency. For years, playing in Washington meant zero state income tax, a genuine edge when players compared contract offers. That advantage evaporates above the million-dollar threshold. Democrats didn&#8217;t just tax the team. They taxed every opponent who came to watch them play.
Silver lining: the encampments will disappear (temporarily)
There is one unexpected upside to the NBA expansion push, and Seattle residents near the city&#8217;s worst encampments already know what it is. A homeless camp sat for five months in the shadow of the Space Needle, on a vacant private lot at 5th Avenue North and Harrison Street, right across the street from Seattle Center, where Climate Pledge Arena is located. Neighbors and nearby businesses reported open drug use, discarded needles, and assaults.
The city claimed for months that it couldn&#8217;t touch it because the land was privately owned. It took a court-appointed receiver, a negotiated agreement, and a police presence to finally clear it last week.
&#8220;This is a high-profile spot, a very high-profile corner,&#8221; the receiver told <a href="https://komonews.com/news/local/space-needle-area-encampment-cleared-after-five-months-on-private-lot-housing-crisis-shelter-resources-drugs-needles-pollution-assault-crime-police-statistics-sweeps-katie-wilson-seattle">KOMO News</a>. &#8220;There was an emphasis to get this taken care of.&#8221;
Seattleites have seen this movie before. When the city hosted MLB All-Star Week in 2023, Mayor Bruce Harrell&#8217;s administration suddenly found the <a href="https://seattlered.com/seattle-red/jason-rantz-opinion/rantz-seattle-cleans-up-the-city-for-mlb-all-star-week-not-for-us/3905798">urgency to clear SODO</a>, Pioneer Square, and downtown of the encampments that residents had begged them to address for years. The streets looked almost livable for about a week.
I covered it at the time and was clear about what was actually happening. The city cleaned up for baseball executives, not for the people who live and work there. The same performance is coming for the NBA&#8217;s ownership vetting process, when someone has to justify writing a check somewhere between $7 and $10 billion for an expansion franchise. I&#8217;ll be honest with you: as a Seattle resident, I&#8217;ll take it. Beggars can&#8217;t be choosers. Just don&#8217;t mistake a pressure-wash before a sales pitch for an actual policy change. And, by the way, it did little to end the stench of urine downtown that is so thick you can taste it.
Democrats broke it. Now they want the trophy.
Progressive leadership spent years presiding over open-air drug markets, soaring homelessness, and a documented business exodus. Now they are racing to be photographed standing next to the NBA expansion announcement.
Democrats didn&#8217;t fix Seattle. They just got lucky the NBA still sees enough value in a market they&#8217;ve been running into the ground. The Sonics may well be back by 2028. They&#8217;ll arrive right as Washington&#8217;s unconstitutional income tax kicks in, ready to collect from every player who pulls on the jersey and every opponent who comes to town.
Welcome home, Sonics. Watch your wallets.
***
Jason Rantz is a <a href="https://seattlered.com/podcast_results?i=1676&amp;n=The+Jason+Rantz+Show">Seattle-based talk show host</a> and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Killing-America-Radical-Destruction/dp/1546006141/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0">“What’s Killing America: Inside the Radical Left’s Tragic Destruction of Our Cities.”</a>

Kentucky v Gonzaga

The Sonics Are Coming Back And Democrats Are Already Taxing Them

Blue States

Democratic Party

Taxes

Nothing says LGBT pride like a &#8220;Pride Match&#8221; featuring two countries that criminalize homosexuality.
Seattle will host a match between Egypt and Iran during the FIFA World Cup on June 26. The match is being designated as the official &#8220;<a href="https://www.seattlefwc26.org/committees/pride-match">Pride Match</a>&#8221; of the global tournament during Seattle&#8217;s Pride weekend. Egypt and Iran were selected over the weekend for the June 26 match at Lumen Field. The &#8220;Pride Match&#8221; isn&#8217;t affiliated or endorsed by FIFA.
That these two countries are the participants in the &#8220;Pride Match&#8221; seems satirical, considering the optics. Many have rightly concluded that you could not pick two worse teams to participate in such a match.
In Egypt, if someone is caught engaging in homosexual activity, it&#8217;s punishable with up to three years in prison, and they may be forced to pay a hefty fine, according to <a href="https://features.hrw.org/features/features/lgbt_laws/index.html?_gl=1*1ghvjda*_ga*MTMxOTE2ODExMy4xNzY1MjI4NjA1*_ga_8G7WH8R2Z8*czE3NjUyMjg2MDUkbzEkZzEkdDE3NjUyMjg2MjIkajQzJGwwJGgxODk0NDg2Mjg2">Human Rights Watch</a>.
In Iran, capital punishment remains the maximum penalty for homosexuality under the law, the organization also <a href="https://features.hrw.org/features/features/lgbt_laws/index.html?_gl=1*1ghvjda*_ga*MTMxOTE2ODExMy4xNzY1MjI4NjA1*_ga_8G7WH8R2Z8*czE3NjUyMjg2MDUkbzEkZzEkdDE3NjUyMjg2MjIkajQzJGwwJGgxODk0NDg2Mjg2">reports</a>.
Qatar, another country that outlaws homosexuality, is also scheduled to play in Seattle for the 2026 World Cup. Qatar hosted the renowned soccer tournament in 2022, where European teams came under fire for Pride-themed armbands. The bands ultimately weren&#8217;t worn during the matches after FIFA threatened to penalize players for wearing the symbolic accessory.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-cup-teams-back-down-on-rainbow-armbands-after-fifa-threats">World Cup Teams Back Down On Rainbow Armbands After FIFA Threats</a>
<a href="https://www.seattlefwc26.org/about/about">SeattleFWC26</a>, the Seattle committee putting pride in the World Cup, calls inclusion Seattle&#8217;s &#8220;greatest strength.&#8221;
&#8220;We have a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact. One that educates the world, inspires our LGBTQ+ community, and uplifts LGBTQ+ businesses and cultural organizations,&#8221; the local organizing committee states.
Seattle hosts one of the country&#8217;s largest Pride celebrations, so there is no doubt there will be a clash of cultures when Egypt, Iran, and Qatar come to town next June.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson doesn&#8217;t seem too concerned about the participants in the &#8220;Pride Match.&#8221;
&#8220;With matches on Juneteenth and Pride, we get to show the world that in Seattle, everyone is welcome,&#8221; she said.
President Donald Trump criticized the new mayor last month during a World Cup press briefing in the Oval Office, calling Wilson&#8217;s policies more extreme than socialism.
&#8220;If we think there&#8217;s going to be a sign of any trouble, I would ask Gianni [FIFA President Gianni Infantino] to move that to a different city. We have a lot of cities that would love to have it number one, and will do it very safely,&#8221; Trump said.
Host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are all across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The first match is set for June 11 in Mexico City.

Photo-illustration: Getty Images; Daily Wire staff

2026 World Cup To Host ‘Pride Match’ Featuring Two Countries That Criminalize Being Gay

Donald Trump

News

Pride Month

World Cup

Seattle’s incoming mayor, Katie Wilson, will inherit a homelessness crisis that will define her ability to lead.
Seattle’s homeless population needs more than another round of aspirational promises. They need and deserve an operational reset grounded in compassion, accountability, and the courage to confront realities the city has failed to address for years.
She must replace press releases and ceremonial groundbreakings for housing that may never materialize with programs that support the homeless in reclaiming their lives from the grip of untreated mental illness, addiction, and dangerous encampments that have taken root throughout the city.
The scale of Seattle’s crisis is staggering. HUD’s 2024 Point-in-Time count identified <a href="https://kcrha.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Point-in-Time-Count-2024_King-County_final.pdf">16,868 people struggling with homelessness in King County</a> — 7,058 sheltered and 9,810 unsheltered — yet even this understates the emergency. It omits the thousands of K-12 students and their families couch-surfing or scraping together money for a few nights in a motel. And at the current 23% growth rate, Mayor Wilson will walk into office confronting a humanitarian emergency approaching 22,500 people.
Meanwhile, encampments proliferate, fentanyl deaths continue at historic highs, and families, businesses, and public workers bear the daily trauma of a system that is not working.
For years, Seattle has clung to the comforting illusion that more subsidized housing units alone will solve homelessness. Despite billions in public spending, housing pipelines remain clogged, construction timelines stretch into decades, and operating costs soar.
But for the majority of those living unsheltered — 78% of whom are struggling with serious mental illness or addiction — homelessness is not merely a housing shortage. It is the downstream consequence of untreated disease.
Often further complicating their illnesses is a condition called anosognosia that prevents them from recognizing their own illness. Consequently, they decline help not because they choose the street, but because their minds cannot see another path.
The mayor must change this trajectory.
If she intends to succeed where past administrations have failed, she must look to the <a href="https://www.discovery.org/m/securepdfs/2025/11/Local-Jurisdictions-Leverage-Homelessness-Reforms.pdf">Discovery Institute’s new report</a>, which details exactly how cities can harness forthcoming federal reforms to drive real results. 
Her reset must include:
<h3>1. Prioritize transitional and treatment-based recovery models</h3>
Seattle must stop investing disproportionately in permanent supportive housing that takes years to build and rarely addresses root causes. It must instead prioritize transitional recovery housing that is staffed with clinicians, case managers, and vocational supports, and must require engagement in these services as a condition of stay.
<h3>2. Partner with high-performing recovery organizations</h3>
Non-profits such as We Heart Seattle and Union Gospel Mission Rescue Missions have a great track record in helping individuals transition to stability. These organizations know how to walk with people through trauma, detoxification, relapse, and rebuilding. Make these organizations central to the city’s strategy — not an afterthought.
<h3>3. Empower and deploy multidisciplinary “CARE+” outreach units</h3>
Combine mental health professionals, emergency responders, and trained law enforcement to intervene proactively, stabilize crises, and compel psychiatric or addiction evaluations when individuals pose clear risks to themselves or others. Washington’s Involuntary Treatment Act already provides necessary tools, but they must be used more consistently and, of course, humanely.
<h3>4. Enforce public health and safety laws to restore order while providing pathways to treatment</h3>
In City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court affirmed that Seattle can ban public camping to restore order and safety for all residents. In tandem with this effort, the city must provide the homeless with restorative programs.
<h3>5. Demand performance, not platitudes, at every level of the system</h3>
Seattle must instill accountability at every level of the homeless system: from the individual, to the non-profit, to the government officials responsible for the homeless system.
It must measure outcomes and provide quarterly dashboards on those outcomes and the spending required to achieve those outcomes. Housing without treatment is a revolving door. Harm reduction without recovery is slow-motion abandonment. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.
Katie, you have the chance to lead Seattle into a future where compassion is not a slogan, but a force that restores people and the city they call home.
This is your moment. History will remember the mayor who chose courage over habit, transformation over stagnation. Seattle’s soul is waiting to be mended. Now is the time to lead the city there.
* * *
Michele Steeb is the founder of Free Up Foundation and author of “Answers Behind the RED DOOR: Battling the Homeless Epidemic,” based on her 13 years as CEO of Northern California’s largest program for homeless women and children. She is a Visiting Fellow with the Discovery Institute’s Fix Homelessness Initiative. Follow them on Twitter: @SteebMichele and @DiscoveryCWP.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.

Seattle Street with Homeless Encampment and Space Needle

‘Humanitarian Emergency’: Seattle’s New Mayor Must Bring An End To The City’s Homelessness Crisis

'Humanitarian Emergency': Seattle's New Mayor Must Bring An End To The City's Homelessness Crisis

Democratic Socialism

Leftists

Mental Illness

Opinion

Seattle-based independent journalist Brandi Kruse declared on Wednesday that she is &#8220;living proof&#8221; that it&#8217;s possible to recover from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) — and that she&#8217;s been &#8220;happier,&#8221; &#8220;healthier,&#8221; and even &#8220;more successful&#8221; since she did so.
Kruse joined President Donald Trump and a number of other guests for the White House&#8217;s roundtable discussion on Antifa and the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to classify the militant organization as a domestic terror group, and she explained that her own experiences with Antifa in Seattle had ultimately led to her recovery from TDS.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 MUST-SEE: <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandiKruse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrandiKruse</a> testimony at the Antifa Roundtable was straight fire 🔥
She admits to past Trump Derangement Syndrome, rips MSM, and calls out Antifa as terrorists. Watch every second! <a href="https://t.co/Vzz7qS98p5">pic.twitter.com/Vzz7qS98p5</a>
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlecLace/status/1976022954904522813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I was told by probably a dozen people not to tell you this,&#8221; she said to Trump. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to tell it to you anyway because it&#8217;s relevant to what we&#8217;re talking about. I&#8217;m living proof that you can recover from TDS.&#8221;
&#8220;I had strong ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ for probably eight years,&#8221; she admitted, and Trump began to smile. &#8220;It&#8217;s the — this is one of the reasons I recovered from it. And by the way, it&#8217;s much better to not have TDS. I&#8217;m happier, I&#8217;m healthier, more successful, I even think I got a little more attractive after I got rid of my Trump Derangement Syndrome.&#8221;
Laughs came from all around the table at that last comment, and then Kruse pivoted to address the media outlets in the room and the reason she was there: &#8220;Frankly, I could not care any less what any of you have to say about this meeting. Could not care any less. We&#8217;re not here for you. I&#8217;m not here to convince any of you that Antifa is a real thing, because if you have not come to that conclusion by now, you are never going to come to that conclusion because you don&#8217;t want to see it.&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=fall40&amp;utm_content=fallsale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial">Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout</a>
She went on to predict that they&#8217;d go out and report that the meeting was little more than &#8220;a bunch of right-wing, conservative influencers&#8221; who were chasing clout and social media followers.
&#8220;I was one of you,&#8221; she reminded them, noting that she&#8217;d been a television reporter on a mainstream media network, and she&#8217;d still been roughed up by Antifa rioters.
&#8220;When I saw, after all those years, that the media wouldn&#8217;t be honest about what was happening, that Democratic politicians wouldn&#8217;t be honest about what was happening, I thought, well, gosh, if they&#8217;re not being honest about that, maybe they&#8217;re not being honest about President Trump either. And it opened my mind to just looking at things as they were — and now I find you quite funny, actually,&#8221; she concluded, prompting more laughs from around the room.

President Trump Holds Roundtable Discussion At The White House On Antifa

Seattle Reporter Says She’s ‘Living Proof’ Recovery From Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Possible

Antifa

domestic terrorism

Media

Politics

Portland

Violence

President Donald Trump hosted a roundtable discussion at the White House with journalists impacted by violence from Antifa, a far-left group recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization by the president.
The decentralized group is most known for instigating violence and chaos at major protests, including anti-ICE protests in Portland, Oregon, which led the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard to the city. Currently, that order is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-blocks-trump-from-sending-out-of-state-national-guard-troops-to-oregon">blocked</a> by United States District Judge Karin J. Immergut at the time of this writing.
“The epidemic of left-wing violence and Antifa-inspired terror has been escalating for nearly a decade,” Trump said on Wednesday. “These are agitators, anarchists, and they’re paid,” he later added.
Conservative journalists and personalities, including Andy Ngo, Nick Sortor, Katie Daviscourt, Julio Rosas, Brandi Kruse, Savanah Hernandez, and Jack Posobiec, joined the roundtable with Trump administration officials.
“The Biden administration let them commit these crimes with total impunity for years,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said, adding that “weak Democrats have turned a blind eye to their actions.”
Bondi vowed to “destroy the entire organization from top to bottom,” saying they will use a similar approach to how they crack down on drug cartels.
<a class="c-link" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=fall40&amp;utm_content=fallsale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=fall40&amp;utm_content=fallsale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout!</a>
FBI Director Kash Patel said that “they are harming everyday citizens in every single one of our communities.”
“We will arrest every single one of them,” Patel insisted, adding that “the American people deserve law and order.”
Kruse, a Seattle-based reporter, said that one of the most significant issues the president addressed was “acknowledging that Antifa is a real thing.”
“Once you take the mask off, they’re nothing,” Kruse said, later asking for a “full court press to dismantle Antifa once and for all.” She added that the investigators should look into the movement of potential criminals between Portland and Seattle.
Ngo described numerous times where he was attacked by Antifa activists, including when he was severely choked, noting how the group is “decentralized, autonomous, and they operate on deception.”
“I think the DOJ could look at federal conspiracy charges,” he added.
Rosas said that “the American people deserve to know what’s happening in these situations.”
“It’s a long time coming,” Daviscourt said regarding the terrorist group designation, saying that Antifa “believes that violence is justified by any means necessary.” Daviscourt recently suffered a black eye as a result of an assault while covering the group.
On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said there are “undercover” efforts underway in the Lone Star State to take down “leftist terror cells.”
“Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people,” Paxton said in a news release.
“The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America. There can be no compromise with those who want us dead. To that end, I have directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming,” the attorney general concluded.

Alt Right Group Holds Rally In Portland, Oregon

‘Agitators, Anarchists’: White House Zeroes In On Antifa After Clashes In Portland

Antifa becomes key focus of White House after clashes in Pacific Northwest: 'Agitators, anarchists'

White House

MixCollage-15-Jul-2025-02-04-PM-8614

First New York, Now Minneapolis. Foreign Socialists Are Taking Over.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Foreigner

illegal immigrants

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Matt Walsh

Mayor

Migrants

Minneapolis

Muslims

Socialists

Somalia

Zohran Mamdani

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-DEMONSTRATION

The ‘No Kings’ Protests Were A Disaster

The 'No Kings' Protests Were A Disaster

Democrats

Los Angeles

Progressivism

Protests

Riots

Salt Lake City

Menu