A 17-year-old was shot and killed near the pedestrian bridge to Pier 66 in Belltown on Sunday, Sept. 6.
His family says he came to Seattle for a car meetup. A dispute broke out between two groups, and the teen was caught in the crossfire, KOMO News reported.
He died from gunshot wounds to his head and neck, according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office.
Officers found the teen and attempted lifesaving measures. He was declared dead at the scene. A 21-year-old man was also shot and taken to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition.
No one called his mother.
Amanda Osborne said she waited nearly two days for official confirmation from the medical examiner that her son had been killed. "My baby is gone. My whole world has just been flipped upside down," she told KOMO News.
The teen's death was the third fatal shooting in Belltown in less than 24 hours over Labor Day weekend. The first occurred just before 12:45 a.m. Sunday near Clay Street and Denny Way, following a street takeover involving dozens of cars and roughly 100 spectators. A man was killed and others were wounded.
The second happened just before 2 a.m. near Third Avenue and Blanchard Street, where a woman was found shot to death in a parked car.
No arrests had been made in any of the three shootings as of Tuesday, Sept. 8, according to The Seattle Times.
By Monday morning, Sept. 7, the Bell Street skybridge over Alaskan Way was fenced off with yellow tape, The Seattle Times reported.
Two cleaners in full-body white suits scrubbed the ground on the bridge. A sign directed cruise ship passengers to alternate routes to Pier 66.
Belltown neighbor Kelly Brown told KOMO News she heard multiple gunshots that night. "This is a constant battleground," Brown said.
Council pushes $418,000 gun violence plan
The shootings landed squarely in District 7, represented by Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the Public Safety Committee. On Tuesday, Sept. 8, that committee voted 3-0 to advance a resolution calling for a two-year, $418,000 partnership with the National Network for Safe Communities (NNSC) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Councilmember Eddie Lin abstained.
The resolution, sponsored by Councilmember Maritza Rivera, calls for a "focused deterrence" strategy that Rivera says has driven 40% to 60% reductions in gun violence in cities including Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
It is nonbinding but signals the council's intent to pursue the model.
Rivera told the committee that the City Auditor found Seattle "still did not have a comprehensive approach for addressing gun violence" in both 2015 and 2025 reports.
Kettle said the council would press forward with or without the mayor's support. He told the Sept. 8 committee meeting the council needed "a little shock to the system," adding that an outside perspective was important, according to MyNorthwest.
Mayor Katie Wilson has not agreed to authorize the $418,000 expenditure.
She told KUOW on Sept. 10 that she views the proposal as "a premature, very large investment in an out-of-state organization." Wilson called the Belltown weekend "tragic and unacceptable" in a statement and pledged to announce her own gun violence prevention strategy.
Rivera responded in a written statement: the mayor "called my effort 'grandstanding.' She called it 'politicking.' I call it meaningful action."
In King County, youth and young adults account for 60% of gun violence incidents, with victims disproportionately male and people of color, according to a 2025 King County report cited by The Urbanist.
The full City Council is scheduled to vote on the resolution Tuesday, Sept. 15. Seattle police ask anyone with information about the Belltown shootings to call the violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.
