Ex-police leader questions five-hour delay in Bite of Seattle shooting response

SEATTLE - A former Seattle Police Department official is raising questions about why it took five hours for authorities to share critical safety information with the public following a shooting at the "Bite of Seattle" event.

Former SPD Deputy Chief Eric Barden praised the heroism of responding officers, but noted that a five-hour delay in releasing public updates was too long. It left a vacuum that was filled by social media speculation.

"In terms of checking the boxes, the commanders on scene and the supervisors on scene checked the boxes and the officers performed heroically. Something else happened," Barden said.

Distinguishing the threat

Barden emphasized the importance of quickly informing the community about the nature of the incident, particularly distinguishing between a targeted shooting and an active shooter situation.

"People needed to know that there was not an ongoing threat, and it's important to distinguish here between a targeted shooting between individuals and a random shooting, an active shooter situation," Barden said.

Questions around chain of command

At the time of the incident, the now-former chief of police was out of town and receiving briefings, while Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis was in charge of the response.

Barden stated that commanders on the scene knew how to handle the situation and that Davis, as well as SPD Public Information Officer Det. Brian Pritchard, understood the need to communicate promptly with the public.

"Acting Chief Davis knew exactly what the right answer was. Tyrone and I worked together when I was the deputy chief. Tyrone knew that information needed to get out to the public," Barden said. "I don't believe that either of those folks made the decision to delay this. I mean, certainly, Det. Pritchard did not decide the timing of the press conferences."

However, Barden suggested outside influences or communication issues may have contributed.

"I have to assume there was influence elsewhere, or confusion that was created by virtue of people pulling levers and influencing and making decisions who were not on the scene because the folks that were on the scene knew what to do and would've done it," Barden said.

Disputed press conference delays

Reporters on the scene of the shooting were told a press conference was delayed waiting for dignitaries to arrive. While city and state officials have denied asking for any delay, a recent email by Pritchard indicates someone requested one.

"No scene that I was ever commander of, did I ever say that or think that, that we would wait for dignitaries," Barden said. "Very typically what happens is the police perform their public safety duties, their responsibilities, to inform the public about what's going on and then after that, at some future date, maybe later that evening, maybe the next day, if dignitaries want to comment on the situation and weigh in, well, that's absolutely the time to do that."

Looking ahead to review

Barden acknowledged that a full review holds the truth about whether the breakdown stemmed from a chain of command issue or something else.

"Having been the incident commander at a number of these type of calls, I can tell you that I never assumed command of the incident prior to my arrival on the scene. We have lieutenants and sergeants and captains and assistant chiefs that respond and may get there before me, and they're going to handle the incident until I arrive," Barden said.

With 38 years on the force at SPD, Barden said he has confidence in the functions of the department, but such a delay shows something happened.

"I think that anybody being honest right now would tell you that five hours-plus is too long, before information is put out," Barden said.

He added that he is looking forward to the results of a review by the Office of the Inspector General to examine what contributed to the delay and how the city can prevent it from happening again.

"What changed? Because, we know the police officers responded brilliantly and heroically immediately upon shots being fired. We know that commanders and supervisors responded immediately to take control and get a grasp of what was happening," Barden said. "We know that early on the police understood that this was not an active shooter situation, but a targeted shooting, and we know very clearly that they had planned to put out information to the media and then something happened."

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