Forty-third Avenue South, near South Hudson Street in Seattle’s Columbia City area is a quiet, dead end road. Kids play in one another’s backyard and residents regularly swap emails about neighborhood news. So when John Russell awoke on the morning of March 22, around 5 a.m. to gunshots, his first thought was to hit the ground, then call 9-1-1. That was before Russell, who’s lived on the block for 10 years, knew what was unfolding outside his bedroom window.
Russell would later learn that Bellevue SWAT was serving a warrant for neighbor and robbery suspect, Russell Smith, at the home of his brother, Rydell Smith.
Upon arriving, police found Russell Smith in his gold Mercedes. According to a statement released by the BPD, Smith reversed his car into a Ford pick-up truck parked behind him. When he switched gears, police say they feared he was going to run them over, and opened fire.
Smith later died at Harborview Medical Center, and neighbors report being trapped in their homes for up to five hours as the raid and subsequent investigation were conducted.
A month later, the trauma of that morning is still rippling out through the community. Residents called a community meeting Monday to voice their concerns and demand answers from the Bellevue and Seattle Police departments. Among those who attended were Bellevue Police Chief Linda Pillo, Seattle Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith, Mark Larson of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Seattle Police Department South Precinct Capt. Steven Paulsen, Bellevue Police Maj. Mike Johnson, Seattle interim chief Jim Pugel and Lt. Steve Wilske of the Seattle Police homicide division.
Many who shared their accounts of that morning became emotional, and the tension was palpable as neighbors crowded the Columbia City Church of Hope.
“What happened to us, the violence and trauma we experienced, happened at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and serve us,” said Genessa Krasnow.
“To the neighbors, I’m sorry you went through this frightening experience,” said Chief Pillo, though she defended her department’s response. “We would never have wanted to have this search warrant end the way it did.”
Pillo added that in the four decades of SWAT operations, this was the department’s first fatal shooting.
But the apology did not sit well with all residents, some of whom expressed visible agitation when police said the suspects actions that day led to his fatal shooting.
After sharing testimony, residents presented a list of questions to police, among them why a local school had not been put on lockdown if Bellevue had deemed the situation dangerous enough to warrant SWAT presence. Several remembered calling 9-1-1 to no avail, and it was not until neighbors began an email thread, that they began to make sense of the unfolding events.
“Would Bellevue PD have used the same level of force, including concussion grenades and an armed vehicle, in a Bellevue neighborhood as they did in Columbia City?” asked Seattle Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith, questioning also why Smith’s bullet-riddled body had been left lying in a street densely populated by families with children.
Others questioned the reasons for Bellevue serving the warrant in the first place and the use of force, considering the nature of Smith’s crimes and the fact that the suspect, when confronted, was trapped on a dead end street.
Smith was wanted for crimes in both cities and courts allow law enforcement agents to serve warrants in neighboring jurisdictions. But for residents and family of the victim, the trauma has been ongoing.
“My oldest daughter was repeating over and over, ‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die,’” recounted Guy Davis, a resident and local business owner who lives with his three children on the block. He says she is still fearful.
Another resident, whose house is on the corner of 43rd and Hudson, recalled the unnerving nonchalance of the scene, including a mobile coffee unit behind police tape.
“From our vantage point, we were hoping to contact and arrest a career, violent criminal in a way that was least impactful to the environment around,” said Mike Johnson of the Bellevue Police Department.
As the meeting drew to a close, residents asked that repairs immediately be made to Rydell Smith’s house, and to the surrounding properties damaged by the presence of SWAT tanks. Chief Pillo said she agreed communication had been lacking, and would look into expediting the repair process.
“Thank you for sharing your stories,” she said. “Sometimes the emotional piece doesn’t get heard.”
