Although one woman died and several bystanders were wounded, the man who may have instigated a wild shootout in downtown Seattle in January 2020 has drawn a 48-month prison sentence for second-degree manslaughter.
William Tolliver was one of three men with criminal records—making them ineligible to possess firearms—involved in the rush hour shooting. He was initially charged with murder, but he pled to the lesser charge, plus concurrent charges of third-degree assault and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. His guilty plea was entered back on June 2, according to KING 5 News.
Another participant in the shooting, Marquise Tolbert, was acquitted of murder and first-degree assault last September, and the third gunman, Jamel Linonell Jackson was sentenced to 16 months in prison in August 2021, the story noted.
Seattle has been roundly criticized for a soft-on-crime approach, and has seen a series of incidents in which police have apprehended criminal suspects who were carrying firearms when they were prohibited by law from having guns. Between them, Tolliver and Tolbert had a reported 65 arrests.
Tolliver’s case has had some interesting moments. He was released from jail March 1 with an ankle bracelet for home detention, but was taken back in custody last month on a charge of felony harassment.
Victims in the 2020 shooting included a then-9-year-old boy shot in the upper leg, and Tanya Jackson, 50, who was killed.
In 2020, according to Seattle Police records, the city recorded 53 homicides. Jackson was one of the first victims that year.
Gun-related violence has plagued the Jet City in recent years, with a homicide tally that has gone up rather than down in the aftermath of the passage of two statewide gun control initiatives and the adoption of a special tax on the sale of guns and ammunition by the city council in July 2015.
In 2021, the number of murders dropped to 42 but last year they bounced back up again to 52, Seattle police data shows.
