SEATTLE -- A community meeting was held Thursday night in the International District as people throughout the neighborhood mourned the loss of Donnie Chin and sought answers about who might have killed him.
City council members, police officers, and firefighters joined Chin's family, friends, and neighbors at the 5 p.m. meeting. Many were seen crying and hugging each other as they walked in.
"Donnie was an amazing man and at the end he gave his life for his neighborhood," said Council Member Tim Burgess. "He was a gracious and humble man who was basically on patrol 24/7 responding to needs in this community."
Friends say Chin was doing just that early Thursday morning when he lost his life. They say he was responding to some sort of dispute in the neighborhood, like he so often did, when gunfire erupted. Police say Chin was shot while inside his car.
During the community meeting and after, Seattle Police tried to reassure the community they won't rest until the killer is found.
"There's a tremendous sense of loss here," said Assistant Chief Robert Merner, who oversees criminal investigations for SPD. "All the resources we have, we have multiple homicide teams assigned to this and there's been no expense spared as to how we're going to continue on with this investigation."
Merner said it's still very early in the investigation but said detectives are now reviewing surveillance video from the area as well as forensic and ballistic evidence from the scene.
He also asked any other business owners or citizens who may have video of what happened to contact SPD as soon as possible.
Councilmember Bruce Harrell said there was a lot of anger and frustration expressed inside the community meeting.
"In the meeting there was every emotion you could experience," he said. "A lot of anger. A lot of questions about how can this happen to someone who was loved by so many people. A lot of inquiry, people asking what happened, do we have any leads, was he caught up in the crossfire."
Outside the meeting, Seattle firefighters displayed crossed ladders as a show of respect for Chin, who they viewed as one of their own.
"He was a member of our fire department, a member of the police department," said Seattle Fire Department Deputy Chief Bryan Hastings. "He carried a radio, he was vigilant, he was on the radio at all hours. And he would always beat us here. Always beat us here. Our engines are just a couple blocks away and he'd always beat us here."
Hastings credited Chin with saving many lives over the course of several decades he spent serving the International District. He said Chin will be missed for that and so much more.
