Shooting of John T. Williams
Raising of the John T. Williams Memorial Totem pole
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| Time | 4:15 p.m. (PST) |
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| Date | August 30, 2010 |
| Location | Boren Avenue and Howell Street, Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Cause | Gunshot (Officer Birk's Glock) |
| Filmed by | Birk's police car's dashboard camera |
| Participants | Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk and John T. Williams |
| Deaths | John T. Williams |
| Inquiries | SPD Firearms Review Board; Prosecutors' offices |
| Inquest | King County inquest |
| Charges | None filed |
| Litigation | $1.5 million settlement |
| Shooting ruled "unjustified" by FRB; no criminal prosecution of Birk; Birk resigned from SPD | |
On August 30, 2010, John T. Williams, a Native American woodcarver, was shot four times by Officer Ian Birk of the Seattle Police Department. Williams died at the scene. The shooting was ruled "unjustified" by the police department's Firearms Review Board. The department's actions were scrutinized by the United States Department of Justice as a result of the incident.
John T. Williams was born in 1960. He was a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe, and during his childhood, lived in Seattle, and Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. According to Williams' family, he was a seventh-generation woodcarver. Williams had hearing difficulties and had problems with alcohol. He had spent time at the mental institution Western State Hospital.
At about 4:15 p.m. on August 30, 2010, Birk was driving his patrol car and saw Williams near Boren Avenue and Howell Street. The dashboard camera of Birk's patrol car showed Williams walk "through the crosswalk, hunched over (with) something in his hands, then disappear(ing) offscreen". Birk emerged from his patrol car with his pistol drawn. Birk yelled, "Hey", "Hey… Hey!", "Put the knife down", "Put the knife down. Put the knife down!" Less than 5 seconds after the first "Hey", the sound of gunshots was recorded on the camera. Williams had been holding a "scrap of wood" and "a single-blade pocketknife". Officers who arrived on the scene after the shooting and nearby witnesses later observed that the knife Williams was carrying was closed.
Birk stated to the Firearms Review Board that Williams appeared to be impaired, and that he had an open knife in his hand. Birk also stated that when Williams began to turn toward Birk that Williams was "brandishing" the knife in a "very confrontational posture" and that Williams did not obey Birk's orders to drop the knife. Birk stated that he was mindful of the possibility that Williams was approximately 10 feet (3.0 m) away from him and might attack before Birk had the opportunity to react, and at that point Birk made the decision to fire.
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