On Monday afternoon a rookie Seattle Police officer shot Dididaht Master Wood Carver John Williams four times killing him. Williams had been whittling with a three inch knife on the street. According to police the officer told Williams three times to drop the knife, Williams didn't, and started toward the officer, before being shot FOUR times in the chest from a range of 10 ft, killing him.
Vancouver Island carver shot dead by Seattle police
"He was sometimes belligerent when he was drinking," Ms. Macri said. "But [his friends] said that despite that, he was known as a very gentle soul, a good storyteller and an artist."
Williams may not have understood the officer's commands.
Police-shooting victim 'struggled with a lot of things'
Williams, it turned out, was a First Nations totem carver and chronic inebriate who had told people he was deaf in one ear, say those who knew him. He also could be so drunk he wouldn't understand what people were saying to him.
John T. Williams 50 is from Nuu-chah-nulth home of the Dididaht First Nation located 70 miles west of Victoria on Vancouver Island.
Vancouver Island wood carver shot dead by Seattle police
The picture emerging of Williams is one of a talented carver bedevilled by homelessness and alcohol addiction.
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He came from a family of carvers and could often be found whittling wood in a park.
Some of his work — a series of miniature totem poles, at least one very intricately carved — was shown at Seattle’s Stonington Gallery last summer as part of an exhibit organized by the Downtown Emergency Services Centre, said centre employee Nicole Macri.
"One staff person said he had a story for every one of his carvings. And part of his routine . . . was to talk about what his artwork meant to him," Macri said.
This shooting comes following two previous incidents where Seattle Police were caught on video abusing people of color. On Wednesday an announcement came that no hate crime charge would be filed against one of the racist cops involved who stomped a Hispanic man laying on the ground while calling him "Mexican piss".
Seattle residents are in an uproar about the Willams shooting. On Thursday evning there was candle light vigil for Williams in the Seattle neighborhood near where the shooting occurred. It filled 2nd Aveanue and blocked traffic.
Candlelight Vigil Commemorates Life of John T. Williams
Roughly 200 people spilled into Second Avenue in front of the Chief Seattle Club Thursday night, holding candles, praying, and singing for over two hours to commemorate the life of John T. Williams, a carver from the Nitinaht tribe who was fatally shot on Monday by a Seattle police officer while holding a carving knife.
"I'm proud to see this large gathering of nations here to celebrate [Williams'] life," said Jenine Grey, executive director of the Chief Seattle Club. Members of tribes in Alaska, Canada, many parts of Washington, and all plains nations were represented. City officials, most notably Mayor Mike McGinn and City Attorney Pete Holmes, stood in solidarity with the crowd. Elk stew and fry bread was served, as one-by-one people stood to eulogize Williams between songs and prayer. One woman spoke of the LOVE tattoo displayed on Williams's hand, and how it reminded him daily to "be a good person and to love everyone." Grey spoke of Williams's carving work—"he was a man who stayed true to his traditions"—which was sold in local stores in the area, such as the Raven's Nest Treasure in Pike Place Market and at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.
But the peacefulness of the candlelight vigil couldn't mask the growing anger at the Seattle Police Department over Williams' death.
There's a problem in the Seattle Police Department. Seattle's new police chief John Diaz said he "had more questions than answers" about the Williams shooting. I think everyone does.