Up First from NPR

Podbit · Up First from NPR

How an anti-police violence protest ended in a teen’s death

Explore episode Jun 14, 2026

Where this was said

CHOP's Birth: When Police Abandoned the Precinct

At 21:00 · chapter starts 19:35

To understand how Antonio Mays Jr. came to be killed inside CHOP, the reporters briefly lay out the protest's origins. George Floyd was murdered, thousands took to Seattle's streets, and police deployed crowd control weapons as a standoff formed outside the Capitol Hill precinct. After a week of escalating tension, police made a decision that shocked the country: they retreated, abandoning the precinct entirely. Protesters filled the vacuum, establishing CHOP across 8 square blocks with tents, art, medical teams, and armed security. Police adopted a hands-off posture, agreeing only to enter for life-threatening emergencies. And throughout it all, citizen journalists and livestreamers documented virtually every moment — creating the trove of video evidence that now sits at the center of an unsolved murder.

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