#Shooting in Seattle’s CHOP zone leaves one dead, another in critical condition

One man was killed and another critically wounded in a shooting early Monday in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, or CHOP, a patch of the city occupied by demonstrators rallying against police brutality and racism, according to reports.

One victim was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in a private car shortly after 3 a.m. while the second was taken via ambulance a few minutes later, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg told KOMO News.

President Trump slammed the “Seattle Looters, Agitators, Anarchists and ‘Protestors,’” on Twitter on Monday, saying they “are now refusing to leave the ‘CHOP’ Zone.”

He added: “They have ZERO respect for Government, or the Mayor of Seattle or Governor of Washington State! Not good!”

The gunfire that erupted Monday near 12th Avenue and Pike Street marked the fourth shooting in the area where Seattle police’s East Precinct was headquartered.

Police haven’t provided any further details about what led up to the shooting and have not mentioned any suspects.

Protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality have occupied several blocks around the police station — which cops abandoned — and Cal Anderson Park for about two weeks.

“I’m aware of three shootings and one murder that was a result of a shooting in the zone,” Police Chief Carmen Best told CNN on Sunday before the latest shooting occurred.

“We’ve also had some assaults, sexual assaults, a robbery, and a couple of arsons. So the level of violence that is starting in that area certainly increased over time and it is no longer a block party. It’s a real public safety issue,” she added.

On June 20, a 19-year-old demonstrator was fatally shot in the zone near Cal Anderson Park.

Trump last week threatened to intervene if authorities did not crack down on the protesters.

“They don’t do something with Seattle, we’re going to do that. We’re going to go in there,” the president told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a town hall. “What is happening, they’re taking over American cities. In all cases, its Democrats. They’re Democrat-run, in all cases.”

City officials said barriers at CHOP would be dismantled on Sunday, but they remained there as of Monday morning, KING 5 reported.