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New Video Evidence Reveals What Happened When A Teen Was Killed at Seattle Protest
A teen was killed at a Seattle protest in 2020, and new video evidence is finally shedding light on the tragic incident. Six years after sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. was shot and died during a demonstration, the case remains without arrests or formal charges. Seattle police continue to investigate, while an eighteen-month collaborative investigation by The Seattle Times, KUOW, and NPR’s Embedded podcast has uncovered extensive video footage from surveillance cameras, citizen journalists, and livestreamers.
Understanding the CHOP Zone Incident
The shooting occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on June 29, 2020, inside the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone. This eight-block area had become a gathering place for racial justice demonstrators following Seattle police’s departure from their local precinct. The withdrawal came after ten days of massive demonstrations sparked by George Floyd’s death. During those ten days, nearly every evening concluded with police deploying tear gas across the neighborhood. Once officers retreated, a sense of calm settled over the area.
Protesters organized movie screenings, established mutual aid stations, and created platforms for speeches and musical performances. The encampment, known as CHOP, lasted twenty-three days and featured tents, graffiti, and continuous demonstrations around the clock.
On this particular night, however, tension replaced celebration. Three weeks after CHOP’s establishment, paranoia and menace filled the air alongside the sounds of gunshots. Without traditional police presence, an armed voluntary security force formed by protesters themselves maintained watch. Several residents had been carrying weapons and staying alert for weeks following a vehicle incident that sent a car into a crowd and multiple shootings throughout the district.
The White Jeep Incident and Its Aftermath
Demonstrators were monitoring a white Jeep that had been stolen and was moving erratically through the area. As the vehicle slowly circled a turf playfield, it approached within ten feet of a tent, triggering widespread alarm throughout the camp. A livestreamer captured the moment on shaky, dark video that broadcast live to Facebook, noting that shots had been fired. The implication was immediate: occupants of the white Jeep were shooting at protesters.
Within ten minutes, armed guards stationed at the protest zone shot all three people inside the vehicle. Antonio Mays Jr., age sixteen, died from his injuries. Robert West, fourteen years old, suffered critical wounds. A third teenager, whose presence in the vehicle had never been documented before, was grazed by a bullet before fleeing into the night.
“When you come in shooting, I don’t think it’s that much of a surprise when you get shot back,” said Colby Williams, a protester, on the morning after the shooting.
This interpretation—that whoever occupied the Jeep was attacking racial justice demonstrators and that protesters or their allies responded in self-defense—spread through social media and persisted throughout the encampment. The narrative endured for years.
A Boy Who Came to Fight for Justice
Antonio Mays Jr.’s journey to Seattle began on June 23, 2020, less than a month after George Floyd’s death. He departed his Southern California home for a city where he had no connections and had never visited. He enjoyed fantasy novels and hip-hop music, worked in his family’s barbecue enterprise, and cared for his younger sister. Before leaving, he wrote a message to his father:
“I am not running from home. I am fighting for a cause,” Antonio wrote to his father. “One day I want my sister to live in a world where her skin won’t be the cause of any pain for her, physically or emotionaly [sic].”
How Antonio reached Seattle remains unclear, but he appeared three days later at CHOP, standing alongside protest leaders while addressing a city official and a gathering of onlookers. In a video clip recorded in 2020 by an independent journalist but discovered only recently, he expressed his views on law enforcement.
The investigation reveals that this Black teenager, who traveled to Seattle to participate in the civil rights movement of his generation, ultimately was killed by members of a protest movement who believed he represented a threat—a tragic irony in a zone abandoned by police and transformed by demonstrators seeking justice.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the incident occur? The shooting happened shortly before 3 a.m. on June 29, 2020, inside the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle.
Who was Antonio Mays Jr.? Antonio Mays Jr. was a sixteen-year-old Black teenager from Southern California who traveled to Seattle to participate in racial justice demonstrations.
What caused the shooting? Demonstrators believed the white Jeep was attacking protesters when shots were fired from inside the vehicle, prompting armed guards to shoot all three occupants.
Are there any arrests? Six years later, no arrests have been made and no formal charges filed in connection with the incident.
What new evidence has emerged? An eighteen-month investigation by The Seattle Times, KUOW, and NPR’s Embedded podcast has uncovered over a dozen video recordings from surveillance equipment, citizen journalists, and livestreamers.
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