Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s staff cuts her off mid-interview before she can answer basic public safety question

A staffer for Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson tried to end an interview with local outlet KOMO News after the mayor was pressed on controversial issues, including rising gun violence in the city and her position on surveillance cameras.

During the interview, KOMO reporter Chris Daniels questioned Wilson about concerns over increasing gun violence and whether a recent shooting had changed her reluctance to expand surveillance measures.

"I appreciate it, but let’s keep it on topic, OK?" a staffer told Daniels while stepping in, despite Wilson appearing prepared to answer the question.

Wilson briefly responded, saying, "I’ll just say, you know, we don’t have any indication that that shooting was targeted or anything like that.”

As Daniels continued asking whether expanded surveillance could help deter crime amid concerns over gun violence, the staffer interrupted again.

"We just need to keep it within the constraints of the event itself," the staffer said. Daniels pushed back, arguing the questions were relevant to public concerns about Wilson’s leadership. He also noted, "It looks worse when you jump in like that."

Wilson later spoke to Daniels again, where she addressed the broader surveillance issue, saying the recent shooting had “not really” changed her position.

"I believe that CCTV cameras have an important role to play in our public safety system," Wilson said. "We also have to be very careful to make sure that our data storage, security, sharing practices don’t make that system vulnerable to misuse and abuse."

The mayor said the city is conducting a review before considering any expansion of surveillance systems and raised concerns about how such data could be accessed or misused by the federal government or other actors.

"That is why we are doing a data and privacy audit before we move forward with expanding CCTV surveillance in the city," she said.