The Capitol Hill massacre was a mass murder that occurred on the morning of Saturday, March 25, 2006, when 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff entered a rave afterparty in the southeast part of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood and opened fire, killing six and wounding two. He then turned the gun on himself after being confronted by police on the front porch of 2112 E. Republican Street. Mass murder (massacre) is the act of murdering a large number of people, typically at the same time, or over a relatively short period of time. ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Look up rave in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A main bash/party being held, and eventually ends or dies down, and people are brought to another party that happens after that,which is still alive and kicking,or having just begun. ... City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is the second most densely populated neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, after Belltown (the north part of downtown). ...

Timeline

Prior to the shooting, on the evening of Friday, March 24, 2006, a zombie-themed rave called "Better Off Undead" was held at the Capitol Hill Arts Center. CHAC states a maximum attendance of 350 throughout the evening and the promoters claim a maximum attendance of 500 people through the evening, with about 350 at the peak. By nearly all accounts, CHAC itself had excellent security at the rave (with over 20 security on staff), and the only connection of the massacre to the rave was that the perpetrator and the victims attended the rave, and that one of the victims invited the perpetrator to the afterparty.^{[1] [2]} At the event, Kyle Huff was invited to attend an afterparty at a home about a mile away. Sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Saturday morning Huff left the event to attend the afterparty. March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (84th in leap years). ... This article is about the undead. ... Capitol Hill Arts Center, also known by its acronym CHAC (pronounced like shack), is a performing arts complex located in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle, Washington. ...

A last-minute invitee, Huff did not personally know anyone at the afterparty. He was quiet but spoke pleasantly with everyone as the afterparty progressed. One person says that they shared a bowl of marijuana. Nobody recalls him leaving, and there was no altercation or belligerent behavior exhibited by Huff. A Cannabis sativa plant The drug cannabis, also called marijuana, is produced from parts of the cannabis plant, primarily the cured flowers and gathered trichomes of the female plant. ...

Close to 7 a.m., Huff left the house and returned to his large truck, parked nearby. From the truck he retrieved a 12-gauge pistol-grip Winchester Defender shotgun and a .40-caliber semiautomatic Ruger handgun, and several bandoliers (over 300 rounds) worth of ammunition for the guns.^[3] On his way back to the afterparty, he spray-painted the word "NOW" on the sidewalk and on the steps of a neighboring home. Upon arrival, he shot two victims who were outside smoking, one on the steps, the other on the porch. He forced his way in through the front door of the house and shot five more people on the first floor. During the shooting Huff allegedly stated "There's plenty for everyone," or something similar. On the second floor, he fired through the locked door of a bathroom where a couple had taken refuge inside the bathtub; neither person was hit. At least three other victims were injured during the shooting and taken to Harborview Medical Center, and at least one died at the hospital. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms during the late 19th Century and the early 20th Century. ... The P Series pistols are the line of centerfire semiautomatic pistols made by Sturm, Ruger. ... Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center, located on Seattles First Hill, is the public hospital of King County, Washington and is managed by the University of Washington. ...

The shooting inside the house lasted less than four minutes. A patrol officer nearby, Steve Leonard, heard the shots and headed to the scene, getting the address from multiple 911 dispatches. When he got to the house, he encountered an injured victim and immediately got between the victim and the house, as Huff was coming down the steps. Before the officer could complete his demand that Huff drop his weapon, Huff put the gun in his mouth and shot himself through the head. ^{[4] [5]} This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Following the shooting police found that Huff's truck contained a Bushmaster XM15 E2S rifle,^[3] another handgun, several more boxes of ammunition, a baseball bat, and a machete. On Saturday afternoon the Seattle Police Department served a search warrant on the North Seattle apartment that Huff shared with his identical twin brother, Kane, where they found more guns and ammunition. During the search, Huff's brother returned home, unaware of what had happened. He was taken into custody, questioned, then later released. Bushmaster Firearms Inc. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... The Seattle Police Department, popularly known as the SPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, except for on the campus of the University of Washington, where that responsibility falls to the University of Washington Police Department. ...

Legacy

The Capitol Hill massacre was the worst mass killing in Seattle since the 1983 Wah Mee massacre.^[6] While Seattle and the Pacific Northwest in the past half-century have had numerous serial killers—most notoriously Ted Bundy, "Green River Killer" Gary Ridgway and Robert Lee Yates —mass murder is much rarer in the city and region.^[7] City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Wah Mee massacre was an incident on February 18, 1983, in which Kwan Fai (Willie) Mak, Wai-Chiu (Tony) Ng, and Benjamin Ng gunned down 14 people in the Wah Mee gambling club on Maynard Alley S. just south of S. King Street in Seattles Chinatown/International District... The Pacific Northwest from space This page is about the region that includes parts of Canada and the US. For the US only region, see Northwestern United States The Pacific Northwest, abbreviated PNW, or PacNW is a region in the northwest of North America. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... Theodore Robert Ted Bundy (November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history eating testicles for entertainment. ... Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah), known as the Green River Killer, is one of the most egregious serial killers in American history. ... Robert Lee Yates, Jr. ...

In the wake of the killings, the Seattle Times, invoking the drugs and alcohol the victims apparently enjoyed that night, immediately suggested late-night activities of the underaged to be more regulated and called for the city's all-ages dance rules to be "thoroughly re-examined and re-tooled."^[8][9] This view was firmly opposed by alternative weekly The Stranger. Josh Feit and Stranger editor-in-chief Dan Savage wrote in response to the Times editorial: The daily Seattle Times is the leading newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. ... Recent cover of Portland, Oregons Willamette Week An alternative weekly is a type of weekly newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. ... The Stranger is a weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, noted for its social commentary, political opinion, arts, comics and music coverage, and local news items. ... Dan Savage at the 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards, 2006 Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964[1] near Chicago, Illinois, USA) is an openly gay American sex advice columnist, author, media pundit, journalist, and newspaper editor. ...

Far from endangering kids, teen dances keep kids safe. If the young people hadn't been at a crowded public dance overseen by extensive security (19 guards were at CHAC on Saturday night) where no one got hurt, the kids would likely have been out at unchaperoned and completely unregulated house parties—not after the dance, but all night. And, without a fat calendar of all-ages events, that's where they would be every weekend. Because without organized all-ages dances and live-music events, house parties and parking lots are all kids have.^[2]

The views predominating among the city's politicians and other leaders turned out to be closer to those of The Stranger than the Times. As mayor Greg Nickels put it, "This is not about music, this is not about a party. This was about a guy who decided he was going to kill people and he had the firepower to do it." Several city council members spoke up against the "quick fix" mentality inherent in the Times editorial; council member Peter Steinbrueck added he was "really incredulous over young teenaged girls going out all night unsupervised and mixing with much older people," but didn't see that as an issue over the nature of the place where they had socialized. Sandra Williamson, mother of shooting victim Christopher "Deacon" Williamson, announced, "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that those raves continue… That is what I am going to do for Chris." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer added that "even… former City Attorney Mark Sidran", whom they described as "Seattle's best-known defender of underage dance restrictions," said that "Some tragedies defy any sort of rational response in terms of regulation because they're completely irrational events you can't really predict or prevent." ^[1] Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels Gregory J. Greg Nickels (born August 7, 1955) became the 51st and current mayor of Seattle, Washington on January 1, 2002. ...

As it happens, the killings occurred only days before Mayor Nickels was to announce the city's support for the non-profit VERA project (which puts on all-ages punk/indie shows) moving into a new location at Seattle Center,^[10] so that at the time of the killings all-ages events were more than routinely on the minds of city leaders, and in a more than typically positive light. Four years earlier, Seattle repealed a rather extreme and limiting Teen Dance Ordinance (TDO), replacing it with the much more flexible All-ages Dance Ordinance (AADO).^[11] In the course of the exchanges in the wake of the murders, musician and activist Ben Shroeter wrote that the AADO made possible legitimate, well-run dances, instead of the sometimes very drug-ridden underground events that had illegally occurred in the TDO era. "The dangerous 'underground' rave has virtually disappeared in the Seattle area," wrote Shroeter. "I’d rather have my daughter at CHAC or VERA Project than in the beckoning custody of unregulated and lecherous slimeballs."^[12] Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Seattle Center is a fairground, park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, on the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. ... The Teen Dance Ordinance was a controversial Seattle law which severely curtailed the ability of concert and club promoters to hold events for underaged patrons. ... The Teen Dance Ordinance was a controversial Seattle law which severely curtailed the ability of concert and club promoters to hold events for underaged patrons. ...

Victims

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Jeremy Martin DJing

Dead

• Melissa Moore, 14^[13]
• Suzanne Thorne, 15^[14]
• Justin "Sushi" Schwartz, 22^{[15] [16]}
• Christopher "Deacon" Williamson, 21^{[17] [18] [19]}
• Jeremy Martin, 26^[20]
• Jason Travers, 32^[21]

Hospitalized

• Two people (unidentified) are still in the hospital, and as of March 28, 2006, listed as in "satisfactory" condition.

Image File history File links Current_event_marker. ... Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_important. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ...

Perpetrator

Kyle Aaron Huff, in a six-year-old booking photo released by a Montana police department.

Kyle Aaron Huff (September 22, 1977 - March 25, 2006) was the shooter in the morning massacre. Huff's motive remains unknown. Image File history File links Aaron_Kyle_Huff. ... Image File history File links Aaron_Kyle_Huff. ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Huff claimed to have attended The Art Institute of Seattle and North Seattle Community College, although neither institution has records of him attending. The Art Institute of Seattle awards the Associate of Applied Arts degree in the fields of Animation Art & Design, Audio Production, Culinary Arts, Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing, Graphic Design, Industrial Design Technology, Interior Design, Multimedia & Web Design, Photography, Video Production, and Visual Merchandising, as well as diploma programs in Baking... The Seattle Community College District is a group of community colleges located in Seattle, Washington. ...

He had previously been arrested in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana, for destroying a public arts project and was charged with a felony. (He shot up a statue of a moose that was part of an installation called "Moose on the Loose.") He was described by residents there as a well-liked person with a minor history of delinquency. He moved to Seattle with his twin brother about five years before the shooting. He had little contact with police in Seattle, but was involved in a brawl at the Lobo Saloon in 2004.^[22] View from top of Big Mountain, near Whitefish, in winter Whitefish is a city located in Flathead County, Montana. ...

The Seattle Police Department showed these images of the weapons found in the truck and a look-alike shotgun used in the shooting. The biohazard placard is because of the presence of blood on some of the items.

The weapons used were purchased legally at sporting goods stores in Kalispell, Montana.^[23] They were seized by the police in Whitefish after he pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor mischief charge in the moose incident. They were returned after he paid restitution and a fine. The original felony charge for destroying the art would have prohibited him from owning firearms. Image File history File links Caphillmassacre-weapons. ... Image File history File links Caphillmassacre-weapons. ... The Seattle Police Department, popularly known as the SPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, except for on the campus of the University of Washington, where that responsibility falls to the University of Washington Police Department. ... Kalispell is a city in Flathead County, Montana, USA. The population was 14,223 at the 2000 census. ... A plea bargain (also plea agreement, plea deal or copping a plea) is an agreement in a criminal case in which a prosecutor and a defendant arrange to settle the case against the defendant. ... A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ... For the record label, see Felony Records The term felony is a term used in common law systems for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. ...

Huff was not well known in Seattle's rave scene. Very few people in the scene knew him or interacted with him. On February 1, 2006, someone with the email address kylehuff23@hotmail.com asked on an internet message board run by local raver Groovinkim when the next rave was, because he'd never been to one.^[24] February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

A possible window into the killer's motives appeared nearly a month after the event. An apartment manager of a complex about a mile from Huff's residence called police about a possible bomb he found while inspecting dumpsters, although that bomb turned out to be just modeling clay and wires. In the investigation afterwards, police found a handwritten note in the dumpster apparently written by Huff. On June 6, the police released the letter, not yet authenticated, to the media.^[25] A week later, the Washington State Patrol's State Crime Lab concluded that it was "highly probable" that the letter was authentic. Arguments in favor of authenticity included the fact that the letter was written on stationery from the apartment complex where the Huff brothers lived, and matched several known samples of the killer's writing, according to crime lab experts.^[26] The Stranger earlier claimed that the handwriting on the letter appears the same as samples from a job application of Huff's that they have obtained.^[27] June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining // 1508 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year truce and cede several territories to Venice 1513... The Washington State Patrol (WSP) is the state police agency for the State of Washington. ... The Stranger is a weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, noted for its social commentary, political opinion, arts, comics and music coverage, and local news items. ...

The letter, dated two days before the killings, was quite specific in expressing the writer's anger at young ravers for their provocative lifestyle, particularly their sexual freedom, and said that the things they did and said were too disturbing for the writer to live with. It ended with the quote "Now, kids, Now", reminiscent of the letters "NOW" that Huff spray painted during the massacre.

In July 2006, an investigative panel released its findings to the public. In attempting to explain Huff's motivations, the panel suggested that a song by Nirvana called "I Want to Know Now", with a chorus refrain of "now, now, now, now" influenced Huff's spray painted message. ^[28] Nirvana was an American rock band originating from Aberdeen, Washington. ...

External links

• Capitol Hill massacre: A timeline of events
• Ravers flock to Web for news
• Jeremy Martin memorial
• Seattle Memorial temple project
• A comprehensive feature about the events in The Stranger, a local Seattle paper
• Maureen O'Hagan and Christine Willmsen, House that once stood for fun now a darker blue, Seattle Times, April 10, 2006. A follow-up article three weeks afterwards about the people who lived in the house (five out of six survived).
• Sara Jean Green, 911 calls from in house, outside reflected horror of killing spree, Seattle Times, March 31, 2006. Includes links to audio of the 911 calls.
• James Alan Fox, Panel Report on the March 25, 2006 Capitol Hill Shooting. July 17, 2006.

April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (91st in leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Notes