The sentence was far more lenient than Anderson's family had hoped for.
Long was facing life in prison and a $50,000 fine due to the vicious nature of the murder but plea deal documents previously revealed by The Post Millennial showed that the state was only recommending a sentence of 171.5 months, a little over 14 years in prison for Long and possibly another 36 months of "community custody" in addition to paying the funeral expenses for Anderson.
The sentence was far more lenient than Anderson's family had hoped for. His father urged the judge to put Long away for at least 20 years.
Anderson was one of two teens shot in the Zone at approximately 2:30 am on June 20. Surveillance video showed Long approaching Anderson with a handgun and then chasing him as Anderson backed away and fled.
Though others tried to restrain Long, he broke free. According to court documents obtained by The Post Millennial, one witness, designated as "PR," told investigators that people started running away from the man with the gun, but one person fell or tripped and was there on his back laying helpless.
PR added that he observed the man with the gun standing near the person on the ground and pointing his handgun at him and that since no one was going to do anything to help the man, PR pulled out his own handgun and fired "seven or eight rounds in the air to distract the shooter" to "save the guy's life."
PR claimed that the shooter looked at him then looked back at the person on the ground and shot him twice describing it as "…one shot low at the victim then the shooter raised his gun slightly and fired again."
Surveillance footage showed Long "fired or attempted to fire at victim Anderson while Anderson was still fleeing" and that Long continued to pursue Anderson and "fired his gun twice while pointing the gun in a downward angle." Anderson was not visible in the footage at that point but "presumably was down on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds to his body." An autopsy later revealed that Anderson had been shot four times.
After the shooting, first responders could not enter the zone because of city-installed barricades placed at the occupiers' request and police were banned from entering to secure the scene.
Other first responders were met with resistance from the occupiers and were unable to enter the zone due to a "security force of heavily armed individuals who were not affiliated with law enforcement who maintained a presence" in the zone "24 hours a day."
CHAZ "medics" rushed Anderson to the hospital in a pick-up truck. As a result, time was wasted that could have been spent trying to save him by first responders.
According to court documents, approximately 30 minutes later, "After gathering sufficient resources, multiple patrol officers entered the zone. The officers were confronted by an aggressive and volatile crowd who then surrounded the officers and shouted at them to leave. Officers also heard individuals yelling ‘he's already dead’ and ‘he was taken to the hospital.’”
A witness referred to as "JM" stated he was "second in command" for the zone’s "volunteer security force" and that he had collected shell casings and bullet fragments from the area and placed them in various Ziploc baggies with his understanding of the location of items contained therein.
Long fled the zone after the shooting and even though he was identified as the suspect the following day, he was not arrested until over a year after the fatal incident, despite multiple tips from the public. Long was found in Des Moines, Washington, only a short distance from Seattle.
Despite having no evidence to support the claim, activists and city council members were quick to blame the "right-wing" and then-President Donald Trump for the shooting even though at the time, official social media accounts for the CHAZ blamed the attack on gang violence.
Anderson’s father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, claiming officials encouraged people to break the law inside CHOP and undermine the safety of others. The case was settled for $500,000.
A different lawsuit, filed by Anderson’s mother and other family members, was dismissed by a federal judge in 2021 saying the city was not responsible for his death and the family has appealed the ruling.
Earlier this year, the city agreed to pay $3,650,000 in damages to business owners who brought suit after the CHAZ damaged their business, and property, and violated their constitutional rights.
The settlement was announced mere weeks after a federal judge imposed sanctions against the city for deleting thousands of text messages between Seattle officials including former Mayor Jenny Durkan, former police chief Carmen Best, and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins during the armed occupation.
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Comments
2023-07-01T05:05-0500 | Comment by: Dean
BLACKS be killing BLACKS. Sounds like a win-win.