The father of a 19-year old man who was shot dead in Seattle’s now-defunct Capital Hill Autonomous Zone is filing lawsuits against state and local government, accusing the authorities of enabling the death of Lorenzo Anderson by tacitly permitting the self-declared anarchist commune to exist in downtown Seattle. Horace Anderson is Lorenzo’s father.
Lorenzo was shot several times by 18-year old Marcel Long, who remains at large despite prosecutors having filed a warrant for his arrest on murder charges earlier this month. The elder Anderson is citing the inability of first responders to reach Lorenzo after he was shot, with the obstructions and border wall of the CHAZ preventing an ambulance or police from reaching him in time to save his life.
“I just want to see justice for my son,” Mr. Anderson told the New York Post, noting that no arrests have been made in the killing. “Somebody has to be held responsible. Something is not right and my son should still be alive to this day.”
Anderson has filed three separate $1 billion lawsuits against the City of Seattle, King County, and Washington State respectively. Spokespeople with the city of Seattle and Washington respectively have declined comment.
Lorenzo Anderson’s death wasn’t the only murder to take place in the anarchist CHAZ. There were a total of four shootings, another of which led to a death, during the month of the anarchist commune’s existence. All of the incidents involved individuals who had appointed themselves as the so-called “security” of the commune, which declared its independence from the United States.
“They try to sweep stuff under the rug,” Anderson said. “I’m not here to be quiet. That’s my son. I’m not going to be quiet for nothing.”