We Keep Us Safe: The Chase

Summary

Podcast Summary: Embedded — "We Keep Us Safe: The Chase"

NPR, July 9, 2026 | Hosts: Will James & Sydney Brownstone

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits the chaotic and tragic night in Seattle’s CHOP (Capitol Hill Organized Protest) zone when Antonio Mays Jr., a teenager, was shot and killed. Through narrative storytelling, new video evidence, first-person accounts, and investigative reporting, the episode scrutinizes the accepted narrative that claimed protesters acted in self-defense, unpacking whether Antonio truly posed a threat — and how confusion, panic, and city policy failures contributed to a deadly outcome.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Night Antonio Died

• Gunshots Break the Night: Omari Salisbury, a journalist live-streaming nearby, captures the immediate aftermath at the barricaded edge of CHOP as a white Jeep riddled with bullets comes to rest. Frantic voices, blood, smashed glass, and chaos fill the scene. (01:06–03:00)
• First Responders & Chaos: Protest medics rush to help; panic and confusion reign as onlookers and rescuers try to understand what’s transpired.

2. Conflicting Stories: Self-Defense or Mistaken Threat?

• Initial Narrative: Protesters state that Antonio and a younger teen, Robert West, attacked CHOP in the Jeep, prompting defensive gunfire from protest security. (04:44–05:27)
• A Closer Look: The reporters question why so many believed Antonio was a threat and hint at evidence that challenges the dominant narrative.

3. Personal Accounts: Rashyla Levitt’s Perspective

• Direct Encounter: Rashyla tells how she met Antonio hours before his death, recalling his youth and the senselessness of the tragedy. (07:04–10:15)
  • “I can't imagine them being in that situation.” — Rashyla Levitt, upon seeing Antonio’s photo (09:34)
• Chasing for Help: As a de-escalation team member, Rashyla describes the desperate chase to get Antonio to medical attention, only to find ambulances refusing to enter for safety reasons. (14:15–17:00)
  • “We just wanted them to stop. We just wanted help.” — Rashyla Levitt (15:40)
• Systemic Breakdown: Rashyla blames city officials and emergency response protocols for Antonio’s death.
  • “The city didn't do their job. People that are sworn to aid those in need...he might still be left, you know?” — Rashyla Levitt (18:18)

4. Confusion in Emergency Response

• Key Evidence: Dispatch tapes reveal authorities mistakenly identified the protesters’ vehicle transporting Antonio as a suspect vehicle, causing ambulances to flee. (18:59–19:42)

5. New Evidence: Reconstructing the Shooting

• Critical Video Analysis: Previously unseen security and livestream footage, obtained through a lawsuit, reveals protesters in a silver Nissan Pathfinder firing on the Jeep before it crashed, upending the notion that Antonio’s vehicle initiated the attack. (23:19–26:56)
  • “There’s a gun pointing out the front passenger window of the Pathfinder.” — Will James (25:03)
  • Both a long gun and a handgun are seen:
    • “It looks like the long gun coming out of the front, firing backwards.” — David Gutman (25:10)
    • “This is the first time we’ve ever seen a gun pointed out of that silver Nissan.” — Will James (26:20)
• Potential Misunderstanding: The evidence suggests the panic and subsequent rounds of gunfire were fueled by protesters mistakenly believing the boys in the Jeep were attacking them, due in part to their own team firing first.

6. Questioning the Protesters' Actions

• Accountability & Memory: Rashyla insists she didn’t witness the shooting, believes her team only intended to stop the vehicle, and denies involvement in other contested events—such as stealing the car or possessing shell casings. (29:10–34:30)
  • “Our security team was not aiming to kill. That was not the goal. They were really trying to just stop that vehicle from hurting anybody, you know?” — Rashyla Levitt (35:20)
• The episode casts doubt on Rashyla’s timeline but cannot conclusively disprove it.

7. Legal and Policy Failures

• Antonio Sr.’s Suit: Antonio’s father never accepted the self-defense story and sued the city for fostering conditions that enabled armed vigilantes to police the protest zone. (21:13–22:19)
• Long Aftermath: CHOP’s collapse, the city’s retreat, and cascading failures of both city services and protest security teams left dangerous confusion that proved fatal.

8. Unanswered Questions & What’s Next

• Open Uncertainties: The episode closes with lingering doubts—whether the mistaken belief in a threat led to avoidable death, and whose actions instigated the violence.
• A Figure on a Bike: Tease for the next episode, focusing on a protester-witness who may provide further insight into the fatal misunderstanding. (36:32–37:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the chaos at the scene:
  • “This is horrible. I mean, this is just horrible, man.” — Omari Salisbury (02:43)
• On the pain of failed rescue attempts:
  • “I just remember...just begging, like we just wanted them to stop. We just wanted help.” — Rashyla Levitt (15:40)
• Confronting new evidence:
  • “Holy shit.” — Will James, on seeing guns emerge from the Pathfinder (25:00)
• On reversal of assumptions:
  • “What this video analysis shows flips our understanding of what happened in the lead up to Antonio's death.” — Will James (26:20)
• Summing up implications:
  • “It seems like these gunshots from the Pathfinder may have contributed to a panic with protesters believing Antonio and Robert were the ones shooting.” — Will James (35:38)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:17: Omari Salisbury describes initial gunshots and aftermath.
• 02:10: Omari approaches the bloodied Jeep.
• 04:44: Introduction of the “self-defense” narrative.
• 07:04: Rashyla recalls meeting Antonio.
• 15:15–16:58: Desperate, failed attempts to get ambulance help.
• 19:11: Dispatch audio misidentifies the rescuers as suspects.
• 23:19–26:56: New video analysis shows protesters firing first.
• 29:10–31:22: Rashyla’s recollection and denial of the shooting involvement.
• 35:03–35:20: Protesters’ stated intentions—aiming only to stop, not kill.

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Episode Tone & Narrative Style

The episode is urgent, immersive, and emotionally charged, blending tense firsthand testimony, analytical reconstruction, and critical inquiry. It grapples with trauma, confusion, and the dangerous vacuum left when formal systems fail and “we keep us safe” becomes the only available rallying cry—regardless of the cost.

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Useful for Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

This summary captures:

• The sequence of events leading to Antonio’s death and the subsequent scramble for rescue and justice.
• The challenge and breakdown of the dominant narrative of self-defense by protesters.
• The significance of new evidence, demonstrating how panic and miscommunication may have led to a deadly mistake.
• The broader questions about protest, public safety, and the consequences when cities retreat and citizens must improvise safety for themselves.

For more details and supporting video, visit: npr.org/chop

Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

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[Sydney Brownstone]

Heads up. This episode contains explicit language and graphic descriptions of violence.

[Will James]

Previously on We Keep Us safe.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Do not walk around in the dark. It is unsafe.

[Will James]

In Chop week, the utopia had faded.

[Rashyla Levitt]

The mood around talk kind of changed.

[Will James]

Antonio Mays Jr. Arrived.

[Zay Huncho]

I had, like, a bad feeling. I was like, yo, I think you

[Will James]

should go home, bro.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Shyla Levitt would end up crossing paths with Antonio.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

He talked about different ways that he could channel his own, like, inner peace.

[Will James]

He'd be shot dead just a few hours later. Protesters said he was in the white Jeep attacking them.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Was Antonio the type of person who could be a threat to Chop?

[Will James]

On the night Antonio Mays Jr. Was killed, the journalist Omari Salisbury was in his temporary office in a building right next to Chop when he heard gunshots.

[Omari Salisbury]

Yeah, so somebody's lighting up the fucking block right now. Hey, y'.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

All.

[Will James]

Once everything was quiet, he stepped out and started filming.

[Omari Salisbury]

Yeah, it's pretty funky out here, huh?

[Will James]

And so Omari was on the scene just moments after bullets stopped flying. In the video he recorded, he inches toward the white Jeep that's crashed at the barricades. And a loose crowd is still milling around in the aftermath. People are talking about the shooting that just happened.

[Zay Huncho]

Someone says, I'm sorry, I ran out of bullets.

[Sydney Brownstone]

When Omari finally gets close to the Jeep, he can see that it's covered in bullet holes.

[Zay Huncho]

Where's the driver?

[Omari Salisbury]

This? Oh, my God.

[Sydney Brownstone]

The windows are shot out. Blood is on the seats and keys are still in the ignition.

[Zay Huncho]

What? You're nauseous?

[Sydney Brownstone]

I'm hemophobic. The street is littered with glass and pools of blood.

[Will James]

Antonio and the 14 year old kid he was with, Robert west, are already gone. Protesters have taken them away to find medical help.

[Omari Salisbury]

This is horrible. I mean, this is just horrible, man. I don't see a lot.

[Will James]

And Omari, who's usually very talkative in his videos, kind of narrating what he's seeing in his stream of consciousness. You hear his voice kind of change.

[Omari Salisbury]

Let me just come over here and breathe for a second. Sorry, guys. This man.

[Sydney Brownstone]

As Omari is live streaming. A young man walks up to him.

[Zay Huncho]

I was on scene.

[Omari Salisbury]

What'd you see?

[Zay Huncho]

I got bro's blood on. I see you got blood on your arm. Saving lives, bro.

[Sydney Brownstone]

And he says, I'm saving lives.

[Zay Huncho]

I'm only 19.

[Omari Salisbury]

What happened?

[Will James]

And he introduces himself as Zay Huncho. He spells it out Zay Honcho.

[Zay Huncho]

Z A Y H U N C H O O. Rest in peace, my brother that came through.

[Omari Salisbury]

Rest in peace.

[Will James]

Zay Huncho starts describing what happened that night.

[Zay Huncho]

He got clapped and we bombed the

[Will James]

hospital in one breath. Bragging about how people at the scene tried to say save the boys in

[Zay Huncho]

the jeep, but whatever happened, happened, bro. But we out here to save lives and do shit for the people. But also, active shooters came through in a stolen vehicle. They spin around the field a few times, and then they try to come through our barrier, through our main entrance, bro. And our people are having it.

[Will James]

Talking about how our people shot the boys in the Jeep. Zay Huncho describes the boys as active shooters.

[Zay Huncho]

We already had the right tire up, and they fucking drew down and took him off the car and we gave him service. Lucky that they got that, bro. He at least want to save his life, man.

[Sydney Brownstone]

You know, there's something else about ze Honcho that's really noticeable in this scene. His sweatshirt, the one that's spattered with blood, is bright white. It's so bright, it's almost glow in the dark.

[Will James]

We ended up following this white sweatshirt through the events of the night Antonio died. People who were there, people like Ze Huncho, say that the boys in the white sheep were attacking Chop, shooting at protesters. They say people on the ground were forced to shoot back. But then we found new evidence that helped us trace the path of this white sweatshirt all the way to the beginning of that night. And what we saw left us wondering why protesters were so convinced Antonio was a threat to their lives. A threat that had to be eliminated. From NPR's embedded with KUOW and the Seattle Times. This is we keep us safe. I'm Will James.

[Sydney Brownstone]

I'm Sydney Brownstone. This is episode five.

[Narrator/Announcer]

This message comes from BetterHelp. People talk about mental health more openly now, but asking for help can still feel hard. BetterHelp's 2026 State of Stigma report surveyed 2,000Americans and found that 85% believe getting support is wise, yet 74% say society discourages people from doing so. Don't let stigma stand in the way of support. Start therapy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com NPR whether you're dedicated to

[Interviewer/Reporter]

a team, I want to see them win.

[Sports Commentator]

Rooting for a nation.

[Zay Huncho]

I'm not even a soccer fan, but

[Will James]

I'm just repping my people or just

[Sports Commentator]

appreciate the joy the Beautiful game inspires.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

No Scotland, no party.

[Sports Commentator]

Find the World cup tab in the NPR app, home to all of NPR's coverage on and off the pitch.

[Candice Odgers]

Psychologist Candice Odgers studies how tech affects kids. And you might be surprised by what her research reveals.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

When you compare all the factors that

[Sydney Brownstone]

contribute to youth mental health, social media often doesn't make the list.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

It's one of the least influential factors in predicting mental health.

[Candice Odgers]

Teens and screens. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will James]

Rashylah Levitt was one of the breakout organizers in the Seattle protests. She was known for her commanding voice and for her long, flowing locks. Once Chop got started, she volunteered for a role on a team that tried to de escalate conflict. And that's how she met Antonio.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

I sat and talked with Antonio for just a couple minutes. He had gotten into a disagreement with somebody else over something trivial, and I wish I could remember what it was.

[Will James]

Rashaila was the first person we knew of who actually talked to Antonio the night he was killed.

[Sydney Brownstone]

So in trying to find out what happened that night, Reshaila was one of the first people we called.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Hi, Reshyla.

[Emergency Responder]

Hi.

[Will James]

Thanks so much for being here, Rashaila. Just to reiterate, we are on zoom in Seattle. Rashaila's in Texas, where she lives now.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Yeah, I. I'm at my apartment. I'm actually cleaning, so it's perfect. He's probably gonna talk about cleanup.

[Will James]

While Rashaila tells the story of that night. She sweeps, she vapes, she paces around the room, tries to corral her dog. And as she's doing all this, she tells us about realizing that the teenager she talked to was the same one who wound up dead a few hours later.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Like, I just.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

It didn't. It didn't make sense.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Just to check, if I show you a picture, can you tell me if that was the same kid you spoke to on the field?

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Yeah.

[Sydney Brownstone]

We show her a photo that is one of Antonio Sr's favorites. It shows his son at one of the farmer's markets where the two work together selling barbecue. And in the photo, Antonio's sitting in a camping chair with a strawberry shake in one hand and a big piece of barbecue oxtail in the other. He's got a big grin on his face. Is this him?

[Interviewer/Reporter]

It looks. It looks like a younger photo of him, but it.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Yeah, this would have been taken about seven months prior.

[Emergency Responder]

Oh.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Reshyla pauses, and then her face crumples as she asks us to pull up the photo again.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Oh, my gosh. I think seeing that. That picture just rattled me. I knew he was young, that first photo. It's so young. Like, so baby. I've got all younger brothers, and I have had seven nephews, and I cannot. I can't imagine them being in that situation.

[Will James]

I wonder, do you want to just go through how you experienced that night

[Interviewer/Reporter]

leading up to the shooting? There was. There was a car or two cars, one car or two cars that were driving through Chop and driving on the field and, like, trying to hit protesters.

[Will James]

And Rashyla says she stepped outside her tent in the park and saw all of this happening in front of her. Since she was part of Chop's de escalation team, she had her radio and she got into a vehicle with some other protesters to chase down whoever was driving around.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

But I remember being in the car with three other people, and I was in the car simply because I had a radio as part of the de escalation team and was in contact with the rest of them.

[Sydney Brownstone]

That means she was in touch with Chop security. But Reshyla says she and the others in the vehicle quickly lose track of the car they were following.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Like, the car drove off, and we hear gunshots or what sounds like gunshots. And we're like, is that gunshot or is that fireworks? And we hear it again, and we're like, that's definitely gunshot. And then the comms started kind of going crazy. And I remember looking at everybody else in the car like, what the fuck was that?

[Will James]

Rashyla had no idea that she'd just heard the shots that killed Antonio and critically wounded Robert West. And then all this chatter erupted over her radio.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Everybody in the car is, like, freaking out because of what we heard. And then it just went, like, scary silence. Like, this eerie, haunting silence. It felt like it lasted forever. And I know that it was just seconds. Like, I know that it wasn't that long, but it felt like it lasted long, an eternity. And then everybody was. Was going crazy on the comps, asking a million questions, trying to figure out where the shots came from, who shot that weapon. Just, like calling out for medics, calling out for transportation vehicles.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Reshyla says the vehicle she was in pulled up to the shooting scene. She saw the crashed white Jeep. She saw volunteer medics rushing to bandage the boy's wounds. Antonio and Robert had been shot multiple times, and they had lost a lot of blood.

[Will James]

Video from the scene shows volunteer medics trying to help them.

[Zay Huncho]

Move out the way. Move out the way.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

I mean, it was so hectic and so crazy. And so when we got there and they were in the process of pulling the boys out of the car and putting them on the ground to start trying to save them.

[David Gutman]

And

[Interviewer/Reporter]

there was glass, blood and so much movement surrounding them. And they were just like. They were so still.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

911. What is your. I have. I need an ambulance.

[Will James]

Rashaila is one of many protesters who call 91 1. We hear Rashaila begging for help, for paramedics to come and try to save these kids.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

Looks like there is an arm. An arm or solar wound, A head wound. There might be an abdomen wound.

[Sydney Brownstone]

There's a. Ambulances won't come in until police have secured the scene. But police aren't showing up. Antonio seems to be in much worse shape than Robert.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

I want you to own the car. On their way to the hospital right now. They are.

[Will James]

Protesters decide they can't wait anymore. They're going to have to try to save these kids themselves.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Robert is loaded into a private vehicle and rushed to the hospital. Reshyla helps load Antonio into the car she's been riding in.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

It's silver Pathfinder, Nissan Pathfinder. Pathfinder. No place. There's someone on the roof. You'll see them.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

I was in the car that we were using to try to transport him from the protest area to either an ambulance or the hospital. So I was there for the whole thing.

[Will James]

They're rushing to find help, to meet an ambulance, and they find one idling just a block or so away. Reshyla says they pull up alongside it with the window down. But instead of helping, the ambulance driver pulls away without a word.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

What could be the reason that they're not stopping? We couldn't fathom why they wouldn't stop, why they wouldn't help us.

[Zay Huncho]

It didn't make.

[Rashyla Levitt]

It didn't make any sense.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Reshyla and her crew immediately chase after it while Antonio is in the backseat. Help for him is right there if they can just get this ambulance to stop.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

I just remember, like we just. Just begging, like we just wanted them to stop. We just wanted help.

[Will James]

All the people in the Pathfinder can think to do is record what they're seeing. So Reshyla picks up her phone.

[Omari Salisbury]

Why do they not want to help us?

[Will James]

In this video shot from inside the Pathfinder, you see the ambulance just ahead in the Pathfinder's headlights weaving through the darkened streets of Seattle. And the ambulance's lights cast everything in this red glow.

[Zay Huncho]

Please, guys, help us.

[Emergency Responder/Background Voice]

Just go.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

They're not helping

[Will James]

people in the Pathfinder are screaming at the fleeing ambulance, begging for help. We're only going to play select pieces of the audio because a lot of this is really disturbing. You can hear Antonio throughout, and he's clearly on the verge of dying. His breathing is labored. Some people who were in the car that night have described it to us as a death rattle. After several agonizing minutes, Reshyla and the others finally see a bunch of emergency vehicles congregated in a church parking lot.

[Emergency Responder]

Help.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Help.

[Emergency Responder/Background Voice]

Help.

[Will James]

They pull in and emergency responders take over. Pull him out right here. Put him on the ground.

[Zay Huncho]

He has gunshot wounds.

[Will James]

Someone at the scene starts listing Antonio's injuries. Gunshot wound to the side of the head. Exit wound to the top of the head. A gunshot to the side of the mouth. At least four to his arm and one to his side. As emergency responders work on Antonio, Reshyla and the others hop back in the Pathfinder to see if anyone else needs help.

[Zay Huncho]

We gotta go back.

[Omari Salisbury]

Let's hop in.

[Will James]

We gotta go back.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Do they have his information?

[Zay Huncho]

No. Nobody knows the. It.

[Sports Commentator]

We need to go.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

I don't know.

[Zay Huncho]

We need to go. It.

[Sports Commentator]

It.

[Zay Huncho]

We need to go.

[Will James]

A voice shouts we love you from the car's window, like a final message to Antonio, and they head back to Chop.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

We love you.

[Sydney Brownstone]

This is Shadow dispatch.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Any more victims? Are there any more victims at camp? Repeat last.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Antonio was declared dead at Seattle's Harborview Medical center at 3:37am about 40 minutes after he was shot.

[Will James]

To Rashaila, the city is responsible for Antonio's death.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

The city didn't do their job. People that are sworn to aid those in need, you know, the fact that we had to chase down this ambulance is wild to me. Had they stopped when they first saw us, he. He could. He might still be left, you know, And. And it just is. It's.

[Zay Huncho]

It.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

It makes me. It makes me. It. It bothers me.

[Rashyla Levitt]

It bothers me a lot.

[Will James]

So why did the ambulance drive away?

[Sydney Brownstone]

We made a public records request and we got back tape of dispatchers and emergency responders talking to each other. Suddenly, we had access to a different perspective.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

The vehicle is following the medic unit on 15 Avenue going southbound very aggressively. Do we engage this unit or not? Negative. Oh, okay. Because we're saying that the silver Nissan was the suspect, but, you guys.

[Sydney Brownstone]

A dispatcher is saying the Pathfinder that Rashaila's in is the suspect. The fire department responds, okay, so.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

No, no. The silver Nissan Pathfinder has one of the gunshot victims in it. We told them to go to that intersection to get him out of the.

[Sydney Brownstone]

What would make a dispatcher think the Pathfinder was the suspect? We were about to find out.

[David Gutman]

See this right here?

[Will (Reporter)]

Holy.

[Will James]

That's after a break.

[Podcast Promo Announcer]

As America marks 250 years, remember, we the people make a free press possible. Together, we hold the powerful to account with reporting for the public, funded by the [e-mail] this week on Short Wave, could your next ride to the airport be in a flying taxi?

[Interviewer/Reporter]

So you open up your Uber app and you've got UberX and Uber pet and now there'll be Uber Air.

[Podcast Promo Announcer]

That reality may be only a few years away, but how is this futuristic travel possible? Find out on Short Wave. NPR Science podcast. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Candice Odgers]

This week on newsmakers, the far right pastor with growing influence in the Republican Party and the administration.

[Will James]

What I would do right now is outlaw abortion, overturn Obergefell.

[Zay Huncho]

Those are the fish that I would want to fry.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Now.

[Candice Odgers]

Doug Wilson, a self described Christian nationalist on his vision for a Christian America, this week on NPR's Newsmakers. Wherever you get your podcasts,

[Sydney Brownstone]

there's a narrative about Antonio's death that started to harden soon after he was killed. It's basically a story about self defense and how protesters had to shoot the white Jeep that Antonio was in. That was the only way to keep everyone else safe. But Antonio May Sr. Never believed that story. He thinks the Seattle police and city leaders abandoned CHOP and left it to be guarded by self appointed vigilantes who killed his son. For two years he waited for answers from the police, but he says they went silent. When we reached out to Seattle police to ask them when they'd last spoken with Antonio Sr. They declined to answer. In 2023, he filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Seattle.

[Will James]

Last year, in an attempt to keep this case from going to trial, the city's attorney filed a ton of new evidence. We had been following the case for a while and suddenly there's this flurry of new stuff available to the public for the first time.

[Will (Reporter)]

Okay, this is Will.

[Will James]

I'm at the King County Courthouse. I'm leaving the Cliff clerk's office. I had to go to a special back room in the courthouse to get it. I was handed a manila envelope with a thumb drive inside. Just downloaded some files from the courthouse that we haven't had yet. Among these files is CCTV footage of the night Antonio was killed. I mean, the most important is a set of videos made by a Forensic analyst who looked at a whole bunch of footage from the night of the shooting and put it all together and sort of analyzed what happened and who was shooting.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

It's a lot.

[Sydney Brownstone]

So we call in David Gutman of the Seattle Times, our friend, our reporting partner, and someone who has consistently been better at the computer than us.

[Will James]

David took a look at this footage, and then he gathered us around a laptop to show us what he had found.

[David Gutman]

So this is obviously the video analysis submitted by the city of Seattle.

[Will James]

The file that was sent to us is a screen with eight different video screens on it.

[Forensic Analyst]

These videos come from all over the place. One's a security cam outside a karaoke bar. There's a live stream. There's a home security camera. And it's minutes before Antonio is shot. They're all synced up so they all play at the same time.

[David Gutman]

I'm gonna press play. We wanna look at.

[Forensic Analyst]

We're focused on one camera feed in particular. It shows a small street parallel to the park. And it picks up just after the boys drove off the playfield in the Jeep. Protesters have now really begun to panic about a car attack.

[David Gutman]

And now I'm going to slow down the speed for this next part. We're going super slow mo now here.

[Will James]

I didn't even know you could do this. This is like James Bond. This is like James Bond shit. The Jeep is driving down a narrow side street.

[David Gutman]

And then see where my mouse is?

[Will James]

Right here, another car creeps into view. It's the Pathfinder.

[Sydney Brownstone]

That's the car Reshyla was in when she was trying to save Antonio.

[David Gutman]

Silver Pathfinder that just pulled up this way. And I paused it.

[Sydney Brownstone]

David freezes on a frame to show us something.

[Forensic Analyst]

We've been watching videos of this evening for four or five years. And you see something that you don't see on any of those videos.

[David Gutman]

See this right here? That's a long gun out of the front seat.

[Will James]

Holy shit.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Holy shit.

[Will James]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. There's a gun pointing out the front passenger window of the Pathfinder.

[David Gutman]

So here it is again. It looks like the long gun coming out of the front, firing backwards.

[Sydney Brownstone]

And now look, a few frames later, there's another gun coming out of a different window.

[David Gutman]

Now, the back seat is a white sleeve. And this one's tougher to see, but I think there is a handgun in that white sleeve. I'm almost certain that Zehoncho Zay Huncho

[Zay Huncho]

Z A Y H U N C

[Will James]

H I O Honcho is the teenager we saw pop up in Omari's livestream. The kid with the bloody white sweatshirt. Is this the same guy holding a handgun out of the Pathfinder?

[Sydney Brownstone]

And then a bunch of shots ring out.

[Emergency Responder]

More shots fired. More shots fired. More shots fired. More shots fired.

[Will James]

These shots are coming from the Pathfinder.

[Sydney Brownstone]

The Jeep races off camera with the Pathfinder behind it, still firing out the windows. They disappear into the night. The video ends, and we're just sitting there taking in the significance of what we just watched.

[Will James]

This is the first time we've ever seen a gun pointed out of that silver Nissan. Am I right about that?

[David Gutman]

Yeah.

[Will James]

What this video analysis shows flips our understanding of what happened in the lead up to Antonio's death. That clip that's been around for years of a live streamer hearing gunshots and broadcasting that someone in the white Jeep was shooting at tents. What that live streamer was actually hearing was people in the Pathfinder shooting at the white Jeep with Antonio and Robert inside.

[David Gutman]

So here it is again.

[Emergency Responder]

More shots fired. More shots fired. More shots fired. More shots fired.

[David Gutman]

The white sleeve. Wow.

[Will James]

We realize these gunshots are probably not the ones that killed Antonio. The shooting just looks so erratic. It's hard to imagine these shots hitting anyone in the white sheep.

[Sydney Brownstone]

But we now think that Zay Huncho and someone else were shooting at the boys from the moment they drove off the playfield.

[Forensic Analyst]

Five days after the shooting, Ze Huncho was arrested at a protest march for obstructing a police officer. The arresting officer said that he recognized him as a homicide suspect in Antonio's killing, but he was never charged.

[Will James]

David figured out what we believe is Zehuncho's real name and spent months tracking him down to ask him about this video.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Thank you for calling Mason County Courthouse and county offices.

[Rashyla Levitt]

If you know you're part of the

[Will James]

Macy County Sheriff Office information, if this is an emergency, please sign up to dial 911.

[Will (Reporter)]

Inmate visitation will be conducted through Securist video.

[Will James]

Visitation say Huncho's been in and out of jails and a mental health facility for years now, unrelated to anything at chop.

[Forensic Analyst]

Hi, my name is David Gutman. I'm a reporter with the Seattle Times. And I'm wondering just if there is a way to do an in person visit with an inmate.

[Will James]

As a reporter, we haven't been able to interview him,

[Sydney Brownstone]

But there is still someone who was in the Pathfinder that night who we can talk to.

[Will (Reporter)]

Hey, it's Will.

[Will James]

Can you hear me?

[Sydney Brownstone]

Okay?

[Will (Reporter)]

All right, Sweet. Are you okay? If I record this real quick, I

[Will James]

call up Reshyla to ask her, were you in the Pathfinder while it was shooting at the boys?

[Will (Reporter)]

One piece of this that I have to ask you about is basically the. The silver Nissan Pathfinder that you and a few other people were in earlier in the night. The city filed a video in court. Shows a couple of people shooting from that Nissan Pathfinder at the white Jeep. It shows a guy I think is Zay Huncho shooting out of the rear passenger window.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Yeah, I've heard.

[Dispatcher/911 Operator]

I've.

[Rashyla Levitt]

I've. I've heard that.

[Omari Salisbury]

That.

[Rashyla Levitt]

That. I've heard that. So to my understanding, the white dream Jeep, we. That. That vehicle. We weren't following that vehicle.

[Candice Odgers]

We.

[Rashyla Levitt]

There was there, so we did not see.

[Will James]

That tells me she was not chasing the white Jeep. Antonio and Robert were in the top

[Rashyla Levitt]

area prior to the shooting. There were two vehicles on the. On the field, driving around, trying to run protesters over. One of them was a. It was like a dark color, like a dark blue or something like that. Me and the other protesters that were in the vehicle were following that car.

[Will (Reporter)]

Okay, and you were following the darker colored vehicle that was.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Yeah, it was like a SUV type car. I want to say it was like a blue color, but I don't know for sure.

[Sydney Brownstone]

But video from the Playfield doesn't show another vehicle.

[Will James]

I ask her, was she in the

[Will (Reporter)]

Pathfinder at all before the crash and

[Will James]

the gunshots and everything? What car were you in again?

[Rashyla Levitt]

We were in.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Whose car was I in?

[Rashyla Levitt]

It was silver gray or something. I believe it was a Pathfinder. I don't know.

[Will (Reporter)]

Were you in a car while people were shooting at Antonio that night? No. Okay. Do you know anyone who was shooting at Antonio that night?

[Rashyla Levitt]

Honestly, I don't know.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Okay.

[Rashyla Levitt]

It's very likely that I had been in contact with people throughout the summer during those protests, and some of those people were the people that, you know, were shooting.

[Will James]

So here's Reshyla's story of that night. She does remember being in a silver Pathfinder, but while she was in that car, no one was shooting. If that's true, it means any shooting happened before she got in. And then the Pathfinder swung around, picked her up, and they went off after a different vehicle that might have been blue.

[Sydney Brownstone]

I'm getting the feeling that maybe you have some doubts about this.

[Will James]

Well, I guess what I'll say is that for all of this to be true, this chain of events, the Pathfinder shooting, chasing, swinging back around to pick Reshaila up, and then going off after this other vehicle would have had to have Happened in about one minute.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Technically, there is enough time for all

[Rashyla Levitt]

of that to happen.

[Will James]

That's true. Like, we cannot disprove Rashaila's account. And she has stuck to this story in multiple conversations with me and in court under oath in Antonio Sr. S wrongful death case. But this is a very short amount of time for all of this to happen. There was more we wanted to talk with Reshaila about. A couple days after Antonio's death, the city dismantled Chop, and police arrested a bunch of protesters for refusing to leave. Reshailah was one of them.

[Will (Reporter)]

In the arrest reports that day, you

[Will James]

were among those 30 something people that they arrested. And there's this weird thing where they.

[Will (Reporter)]

So they said that they found in your pocket a shell casing and a bullet.

[Will James]

Rashyla says this isn't true, that police never found a bullet or a shell casing in her pocket.

[Rashyla Levitt]

Now, I do know that stuff was removed from the scene. I do know that people did pick up casings and whatnot as well. But I never had any of that on me.

[Will James]

It's hard to know the truth about this because the same police report says the bullet and the shell casing were lost while officers drove protesters to jail. There was something else, too. It turns out the Pathfinder had been stolen before the shooting. And the Pathfinder's owner told police he had been chased by a group of people that included a protest leader named Shai. Shai was one of Reshailah's nicknames at chop.

[Will (Reporter)]

Do you remember this guy at all and confiscating his Nissan?

[Rashyla Levitt]

No.

[Will (Reporter)]

Okay.

[Rashyla Levitt]

I've never taken something from somebody that didn't belong to me. I've. Taking somebody's vehicle is absurd.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

That's absurd.

[Will James]

Even though she says she was not in the Pathfinder when people were shooting, she does know why they were shooting.

[Rashyla Levitt]

When all the chaos was ensuing, I had a walkie in the.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

In.

[Rashyla Levitt]

In the vehicle, and it was said over the walkies, you know, take the tires out. You know, stop the car, take the tires out.

[Will James]

Rashaila doubles down on what protesters have been telling us this whole time, that they open fire to defend themselves from a threat.

[Rashyla Levitt]

So our security team was not aiming to kill. That was not the goal. That was not the purpose. They were really trying to just stop that vehicle from hurting anybody, you know?

[Will James]

But were the boys in the white Jeep really trying to hurt protesters? Now that we know the Pathfinder was shooting at the white Jeep almost immediately, there's a new possibility. It seems like these gunshots from the Pathfinder may have contributed to a panic with protesters believing Antonio and Robert were the ones shooting. Did that lead to the second round of shooting that happened a couple minutes later, The one that almost certainly killed Antonio?

[Sydney Brownstone]

As we combed through all of the videos, we had to figure out what happened the night of the shoot. This one person kept popping up. A protester with long flowing hair who was known for riding around Chop on his bike. Right there on the bike.

[Will James]

Oh yeah, you see his long hair. In the seconds after the Jeep crashes and the boys are shot in that eerie silence that Reshaila said seemed to last forever, this figure on the bike rolls across our screens. He stops and he looks at the shooting scene. He stares at this spot. We can't see where bullets were just flying. What does he see there?

[Sydney Brownstone]

It turns out I know who he is.

[Will James]

Sydney interviewed him back in 2020.

[Zay Huncho]

That night it was just extremely chaotic.

[Will James]

We track him down. Do you remember that?

[Zay Huncho]

That's my bike. Yeah, I'm standing right here. That's me.

[Sydney Brownstone]

And he did see something that night.

[Zay Huncho]

I can't believe he found that.

[Sydney Brownstone]

That's on the next episode of We Keep Us Safe.

[Will James]

You can find new footage of the Nissan Pathfinder from the night of the shooting on our website. Visit npr.org chop to see that video.

[Sydney Brownstone]

We keep us safe from. NPR's Embedded is a collaboration with the Seattle Times and KUOW. The series is reported and written by me, Sydney Brownstone, David Gutman and Will James.

[Will James]

This episode was edited by Luis Trus and Laura Grenias with support from Katie Simon.

[Sydney Brownstone]

This episode was produced by Dan Girma. Our senior producer is Adelina Lancianniz.

[Will James]

Additional reporting by Dan Girma and Omari Salisbury who contributed recordings to this project. Research and fact checking by Danya Solomon and Miyoko Wolf.

[Sydney Brownstone]

Jimmy Keeley mastered the episode.

[Will James]

Music by Audio Network, AudioSocket, Blue Dot Sessions, Ramtin Arablouei, Tom Pyle and Running Dog Music and Universal Music Production.

[Sydney Brownstone]

And a big thanks to our NPR supporters. Embedded is where we do ambitious long form journalism at npr and NPR helps keep that work going. Supporters also get to listen to every Embedded episode early. Find out [e-mail] if you'd like to email the show, you can reach [e-mail] I'm Sydney Brownstone.

[Will James]

I'm Will James. This is Embedded from npr. Thanks for listening.

[Emergency Responder/Background Voice]

You know, Every day on Up First, NPR's Golden Globe nominated morning news podcast. We bring you three essential stories. the heart of of each story are questions. What really happened? What really mattered. What happens next? At npr, we stand for your right to be curious and to follow the facts. Follow up first, wherever you get your podcasts and start your day knowing what matters and why.

[Sports Commentator]

The knockout phase of the World cup is underway.

[Zay Huncho]

At every stage, the excitement level goes

[Will James]

up and up and up, creating core memories with strangers, you know, foreign land.

[Emergency Responder/Background Voice]

This is what it's really about.

[Sports Commentator]

Coverage of the highs and lows from the NPR Network continues. Find the World cup tab in the NPR app for more.