Seattle CHOP Wrongful Death Lawsuits and the $30.5M Verdict

The Seattle CHOP wrongful death lawsuits are two separate cases brought by the families of teenagers killed inside the 2020 Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone. Horace Lorenzo Anderson’s case settled with the City of Seattle for $500,000 in 2022, and a related federal civil rights claim was dismissed. Antonio Mays Jr.’s case went to trial and produced a $30.5 million jury verdict against the city in January 2026, which the trial judge upheld and the city is appealing. A surviving victim of the same shooting that killed Mays, Robert West, has his own lawsuit pending in King County Superior Court.

Why These Lawsuits Exist

The Capitol Hill Organized Protest, first called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, formed on June 8, 2020, after Seattle police boarded up the East Precinct and withdrew from the surrounding blocks during protests following the killing of George Floyd. Demonstrators occupied roughly six blocks for several weeks.¹

Two fatal shootings inside that zone drove the wrongful death litigation. On June 20, 2020, 19-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson was shot by 18-year-old Marcel Long. Medics delayed entering because police had not secured the scene, and Anderson was taken to Harborview Medical Center in the back of a pickup truck.² On June 29, 2020, 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. and 14-year-old Robert West were shot multiple times by armed people acting as self-appointed CHOP security while the teenagers were inside a white Jeep. Volunteer medics treated them near the East Precinct, and they were moved out of the zone in private vehicles. Mays died after the car carrying him failed to flag down an ambulance; paramedics attempted resuscitation in a parking lot before he was pronounced dead at a hospital.³ West survived but lost his right eye, suffered a traumatic brain injury, and had part of his skull replaced with a titanium plate.⁴

The shooting that killed Mays has never been solved, and no arrests have been made as of 2026.⁵

The Anderson Case: $500,000 Settlement and a Dismissed Federal Claim

Lorenzo Anderson’s father, Horace Anderson, first filed a tort claim against Seattle seeking $3 billion in damages. In November 2021, attorney Evan Oshan filed a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf in King County Superior Court, naming the city, former Mayor Jenny Durkan, and Councilmember Kshama Sawant. The suit alleged that city leaders had encouraged illegal activity, undermined public safety, and left police unable or unwilling to enter the zone to investigate the shooting or render aid.⁶

The city settled the case for $500,000, and a judge approved the settlement and dismissed the lawsuit in April 2022.² Oshan said the case had been about government accountability rather than money.⁷

Anderson’s mother, Donnitta Sinclair, pursued a separate federal civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court dismissed it, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed in March 2023. The appeals court acknowledged that the city had acted with “deliberate indifference” in connection with the creation of the CHOP zone, but held that the danger was not “particularized” to Sinclair’s son. The risks were generalized dangers experienced by the public at large, which made the connection between the city’s conduct and Anderson’s death too remote to sustain a constitutional claim.⁸

The Mays Jr. Case: $30.5 Million Jury Verdict

Antonio Mays Sr. sued the City of Seattle for his son’s death, again represented by Evan Oshan. The core claim was that the city abandoned its duty to protect people inside CHOP and that the emergency response to the June 29 shooting failed in ways that caused Mays Jr.’s death.⁹

Seattle defended on three main grounds: that emergency responders did react, that the gunshot wounds were unsurvivable regardless of care, and that because Mays was allegedly committing a felony at the time of the shooting (the city pointed to the theft of a Jeep), Washington’s “felony bar” statute should shield the government from liability.⁹

After a 12-day trial, 11 of 12 jurors rejected those defenses. On January 29, 2026, they found that the city’s negligence in its emergency response was a proximate cause of the death and awarded $30.5 million, with roughly $24 million designated as noneconomic damages.¹⁰¹¹ Jurors pointed to a 911 recording in which dispatchers and emergency responders did not tell the caller where volunteers should take the wounded teenager, and concluded the city had failed to follow its own protocols for emergencies inside the zone. No city representatives appeared in the courtroom during the month-long trial.¹²

The City’s Challenge and Appeal

City Attorney Erika Evans’s office moved for a new trial, arguing that the $30.5 million award was driven by “passion and prejudice” and that the jury should have been instructed to consider the unidentified shooter’s share of liability.¹³ The city also pointed to what it called “multiple errors affecting the substantial rights of the City,” including the allowance of deterrence as a factor in calculating damages.¹⁴

On March 27, 2026, King County Superior Court Judge Sean P. O’Donnell denied all of the city’s post-trial motions and upheld the verdict in full, saying he had “considered every argument the city raised and found none sufficient.”¹⁵ Seattle had already filed a protective notice of appeal to the Washington State Court of Appeals contingent on that denial.¹⁴

Robert West’s Pending Lawsuit

Robert West, the surviving teenager from the shooting that killed Mays, filed his own suit against the city in King County Superior Court in February 2026. Now 20 and permanently disabled, West had originally sued in 2023, but his attorney withdrew that case as the Mays trial approached. The refiled complaint asserts 12 causes of action, alleging the city created a dangerous environment, encouraged West to visit CHOP by portraying it as safe, and failed to provide a timely emergency response. No ambulance was dispatched for West; bystanders drove him to the hospital.¹⁶¹⁷

There is a disputed factual issue in his case. West testified under oath that he did not steal the Jeep, but the city filed records from a 2023 neurological rehabilitation facility in which West allegedly told staff he had stolen the vehicle with the friend who was killed. He has never been charged in connection with the theft.¹⁶

Where the Cases Stand

As of mid-2026, the Anderson wrongful death case is closed: settled for $500,000 in state court and dismissed in federal court after the Ninth Circuit’s 2023 ruling.⁸ The $30.5 million Mays Jr. verdict stands at the trial court level and is heading to the state Court of Appeals. Robert West’s suit is active in King County Superior Court. During the Mays litigation the city also admitted that no officers were assigned to patrol CHOP on the night of the shooting.¹⁷

1
Seattle Times. Protest Timeline
2
Seattle Times. City of Seattle Pays $500K To Settle Lawsuit Over Death of Man Killed in CHOP Shooting
3
KUOW. Seattle CHOP Evidence Revealed by City in Wrongful Death Trial
4
KING 5. Lawsuit Filed Over CHOP Shooting of Robert West
5
KUOW. We Keep Us Safe Investigates the CHOP Shooting of Antonio Mays Jr.
6
Seattle Times. Seattle Leaders Failed Lorenzo, Father of CHOP Victim Files New Lawsuit Naming Durkan, Sawant
7
PR Newswire. Half Million Dollars Paid by City of Seattle in CHOP Zone Wrongful Death Lawsuit
8
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Sinclair v. City of Seattle, No. 21-35975
9
KUOW. CHOP Trial Begins: Seattle Abandoned Antonio Mays Jr., Lawyer Says
10
Seattle Times. City Says $30.5M Seattle CHOP Verdict Excessive, Asks for New Trial
11
TLU On Demand. A Landmark $30.5 Million Verdict Against the City of Seattle for a Wrongful Death
12
PR Newswire. Jury Awards Landmark $30.5M Verdict Against the City of Seattle in Antonio Mays Jr. Case
13
Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. City Pushing for New Trial, Planning Appeal in $30M CHOP Wrongful Death Case
14
KIRO 7. City of Seattle Appeals $30.5M Verdict in Fatal CHOP Zone Shooting of Teen
15
KOMO News. Judge Upholds Seattle’s Record $30.5M Verdict in Antonio Mays Jr. CHOP Death Case
16
Seattle Times. Surviving Teen Shot at Seattle CHOP Refiles Lawsuit
17
PR Newswire. Second Victim of CHOP Shooting That Led to $30.5M Verdict Files Suit Against City of Seattle