We have to talk about what happened at the East Precinct today. Not just because a handful of heroes selflessly put themselves in danger to protect their community, but because it is perfectly illustrative why SPD is as dangerous as it is unnecessary. 
This morning, Seattle Police erected a "permanent" barricade at 11th & Pine, to replace the one protesters had moved yesterday. If that barricade had worked as intended, it would have held the bulk of crowd in the middle of the intersection all day.
Soon after, some professional stage-workers went to the site, saw how the barricades had been constructed, and realized it had been put together wrong. They tried to warn officers that the construction would likely crush protesters. They were ignored.
Midway through the day, the crowd of nonviolent protesters began to disassemble the new barricade... made possible because it hadn't been constructed properly. In doing so, they were able to move up about 20 feet, leaving fewer people in the intersection.
As this was happening SPD was constantly on the megaphone, warning them to go back, telling them they were risking violence, claiming these unarmed, nonviolent protesters were committing violence just by standing. Tensions were high, seemed moments away from flashbangs.
All of a sudden, a car barrels down 11th Ave towards the intersection. People are chasing it, throwing things, hitting it, trying to get it to stop.
A protester at the intersection thinks quickly and moves part of the newly dismantled barricade in front of the car, stopping it from barreling into the intersection and hitting anyone.
Another protester, a man named Daniel, goes for the driver. In the scuffle, Daniel is shot in the arm. The driver jumps out of the car holding a handgun with an extended clip, points it at multiple people.
He quickly makes his way through the crowd towards the front of the protest, gun still in his hand. He runs past the new barricade protesters had constructed, without even slowing down, directly for police. The line of officers barely moves. He has his hand and gun in his pocket.
From the back, the arrest looks calm. However, there's someone around the corner with a camera. They catch the shooter approaching officers and giving a thumbs up as he approaches them. They calmly take him into custody.
Immediately twitter gets to work trying to figure out who he is. He was wearing an Iron Workers Union hoodie, and the license plate holder on his car also said Iron Workers Union. Someone he went to high school with witnessed him do it, thinks he's sure of his identity.
So he calls @_KalieKalie_, who also went to high school with the shooter. She IDs him too. But she wants to be sure. She checks his instagram, but it's private. She finds a list of mutual friends, contacts one, and has that mutual friend send her screenshots from his account.
One of those screenshots is him at an Iron Workers Union ceremony. Seems like a lock. Nikolas Fernandez. At the same moment I get a text from another friend who ran the plate from the car. Registered to a man named Nikolas Fernandez. We got him.
We all post it up on twitter. People start poking around, looking into the guy. A friend finds Nikolas's IG and notices it's private, but all the photos have been deleted. This is at 10:43pm. They ask me about it. I check the account at 11:10, the entire account has been deleted.
We go back and check the last screenshot we were sent from his account...the one from the Iron Workers Union ceremony. Screenshotted at 10:41pm. 2 minutes before we know photos were deleted. Which means we know that someone deleted his photos pretty much right at 10:42pm tonight.
It is 1am and Nikolas Fernandez was just booked into King County Jail. Had the police barricade they improperly assembled this morning had held up, hundreds of people would have been in that intersection. And there would have been no barricade piece with which to stop the car.
The Seattle Police Department has every weapon at their disposal. Snipers on the rooftops, spy planes in the sky, tanks on the ground. Not only were they unable to do anything to protect against this gunman, but had their original work held up, dozens would be dead right now.
Instead, a community, armed with nothing but the scraps of the wall they tore down with their bare hands, was able to stop a mass murderer, was able to protect each other, and was able to ensure their wounded friends were cared for. Without firing a single shot.
These are the same people SPD has been violently abusing for more than a week now. And this is the same group that being gassed and shot as I type this, as this city wages chemical warfare on a residential neighborhood for a third time this week.
Today was all the proof we need to know that we will win this fight, that we are on the right side of history, and that no amount of money, weaponry, or violent bigotry, will be able to slow us down.
Well goddammit, internet, I just found out the picture of him giving a "thumbs up" was a screen grab of a video... and he was not giving a thumbs up, he was pointing behind him. Wtf guys.
Edit: in case the corrections were not clear last night... He did not give a thumbs up, he was pointing behind him. Whoever took the screenshot was being an opportunistic dick.
