SEATTLE — What should have been a “minor, inconsequential traffic misunderstanding” at a busy Capitol Hill intersection Saturday afternoon turned into a deadly shooting that killed a 23-year-old man and injured his 9-year-old nephew, prosecutors say.
Patrick F. Cooney, 35, was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and first-degree assault, accused of fatally shooting Seattle activist Elijah Lewis, wounding his nephew and endangering passersby. Cooney, who waited at the shooting scene for police to arrive, remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail, charging papers say. He’s scheduled to be arraigned April 19.
Lewis’ killing is the 15th homicide Seattle police have investigated so far this year, the same number the SPD investigated between January and the first weekend of April 2022, according to data compiled by The Seattle Times with information from police, prosecutors and the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. There were 55 homicides committed in the city last year, up from 41 in 2021.
Lewis picked up his nephew from an apartment building at Broadway and East Pine Street at 5:15 p.m. to take him to a monster truck rally at Lumen Field for his birthday, charging papers say. The pair were in Lewis’ Toyota Camry, which was parked on the south side of East Pine Street. As the car pulled into traffic, “some type of encounter” happened between the car and Cooney, who was riding an electric scooter, according to the charges.
Cooney, who was riding east on East Pine Street, yelled something to the effect of, “Watch where you are going!” and he and Lewis were heard “cussing” at each other, the charges say.
Video footage from the intersection didn’t entirely capture the initial encounter, but it appeared that Lewis pulled into traffic and into Cooney’s path, the charges say. After looking back at the car, the footage showed that Cooney stopped and straddled the scooter in the middle of the lane, then tried to kick the car’s passenger door as Lewis drove past him, according to charging papers.
Cooney dropped the scooter and continued to move with the vehicle, until neither he nor Lewis’ car could be seen in the footage for a moment, the charges say. Even as Lewis turned right onto Broadway and left the frame, Cooney could “still be seen walking in the direction of the vehicle with a gun in his hand,” a Seattle police detective wrote in charging papers.
Cooney returned to the scooter, where he appeared to rack his gun and then picked something off the ground and waited for police to arrive, the charges say.
It’s unclear from charging papers whether the footage captured the deadly shooting, but officers later found five cartridge casings at the scene.
Crime scene investigators determined three bullets struck Lewis’ car: One went through the front passenger door and tore through the 9-year-old’s right calf, a second went through the rear passenger window and was found fused into the hood of the boy’s sweatshirt, and a third was fired through the rear window and struck Lewis in the back, the charges say.
The bullet that hit Lewis was found “protruding” from his chest during an autopsy, according to the charges. His nephew required stitches and was discharged Sunday from Harborview Medical Center.
Lewis was remembered as an entrepreneur and activist who was heavily involved with Africatown Community Land Trust, an organization focused on preserving the city’s Black community. A graduate of Rainier Beach High School, he did community outreach with Black vendors, artists, poets and singers for events in the Central District and Rainier Valley, Lewis’ brother, Mario Dunham, told The Seattle Times. He also owned a cleaning business and a financial group and was involved in several community groups and activist movements, his brother said.
The charging papers don’t indicate what type of handgun was used in the shooting or whether Cooney had a concealed pistol license. He does not have any known criminal convictions.
