‘I’m not confident she knows what she is doing’: Pramila Jayapal questioned socialist Seattle mayor’s competence during mass shooting response

“Give me a ring, I'm wondering if we should be there at all. I'm not confident she knows what she is doing,” Jayapal texted Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on the night of the July 26 shooting, which left three people dead and four others wounded, including a toddler.

"Squad" member Jayapal was referring to a press conference Wilson’s team was planning to have in response to the shooting. Ferguson responded, “Spoke w mayor. Asked her to call u directly.”

Earlier that evening, Jayapal, the Progressive Caucus chair, had told Ferguson she suggested to Wilson that if officials were conducting a public conference, “it would be good if we are all there.” Ferguson responded: “Agree.”

The private conversation later turned to mounting media criticism of the delay. UnDivided host Brandi Kruse had previously shared a post by KOMO reporter Jeremy Harris criticizing officials for holding up the briefing after police told reporters it was being postponed for “dignitaries.”

Jayapal texted Ferguson, “This is an SPD person talking to this guy. Brandi of course is crazy but there are KOMO and KING reporters in this.”

Jayapal also objected to police telling reporters that dignitaries were behind the delay, writing that she was having her staff contact Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt and “say this is outrageous that someone said the delay was because of dignitaries.”

“You may want to have your folks do that also,” she added.

Yet records show officials were delaying the presser because of the elected officials, a fact which Jayapal herself even acknowledged, texting Ferguson at 10:32 pm, almost 5 hours after the shooting, “They're waiting for both of us.”

Seattle Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis, then serving as acting chief because Chief Shon Barnes was out of town, testified that SPD was prepared to brief reporters at approximately 7:30 pm, but Surratt told him to wait for Wilson.

Davis said he proposed briefing reporters immediately and holding another event when the mayor arrived but was again told to wait. “What I shared in that 20-minute press conference at 11:00 pm would have been the same exact information I would have provided at 7:30,” Davis testified. “Nothing changed.”

At 9:42 pm, Wilson's Public Safety Director Alison Holcomb told SPD leadership, “Mayor's on her way. Please wait for her.” Approximately 15 minutes later, Surratt wrote, “Waiting on Gov and Jayapal.”

SPD Chief Operating Officer Sarah Smith later told then-Chief Shon Barnes, “They were delayed because they were waiting for the mayor to arrive.”

Minutes later, Smith wrote, “Sigh. Now they are waiting for the Governor to show up before they do it. So it's gonna happen, but they're still just waiting for him now.”

Ferguson's office claimed the governor believed an appearance by elected officials was separate from SPD's responsibility to provide public-safety information and assumed police were keeping the public informed. It says Ferguson did not learn until shortly after 10 pm that Wilson had changed plans and decided to hold a media availability that night.

SPD's subsequent after-action review found a “5-hour public information gap”. It concluded that coordination involving senior and elected officials distracted sworn personnel from timely public-safety communications and on-scene decision-making.