THE LYNCHING OF ANTONIO MAYS, JR - PART I -- 'You Wanna Get Pistol Whipped?"
An unarmed black child was executed in front of dozens of BLM protestors at Seattle's CHOP. A white trans militant's security team is responsible. But 5 years later? Still no arrests made. Why?
The sun goes down and the AR-15s come out, and it becomes a totalitarian regime where, without arrest, without due process, without anything, you could be assaulted, beat up, and/or excommunicated and thrown out of CHAZ and CHOP.
- SPD officer, Wave 3 after-action review.
SEATTLE — Capital Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP)
In the early hours of June 29, 2020, 16-year-old Antonio Mays, Jr and 14-year-old Robert Woods were shot multiple times by members of a volunteer security team tasked with ensuring the safety of those attending the George Floyd-inspired protest.
The children, unarmed and black, raced around the perimeter of the protest zone in a stolen white Jeep.
A team of shooters (white) pursued the children in a gold Crown Victoria, hanging out the windows with ARs brandished, extra mags stuffed into tac vests.
The shooters sent a dozen .223 rounds through the rear window and back right tire of the Jeep a few minutes before 3:00 am, sending the SUV into jersey barriers near the 12th and Pine checkpoint.
Whom exactly did the shooting isn’t specified. At that time. More on that later.
Both children were struck multiple times in the back, neck and head.
The critically-wounded Mays, trapped in the crumpled vehicle, was then subjected to an unimaginable series of taunts, threats and further abuse involving pistol-whipping and a coup-de-grace.
All of this occurred in front of dozens of on the ground witnesses, most of whom were attending the BLM protest.
Thousands more watched the lynching1 on livestream.
“Oh, you’re not dead yet?”
Antonio Mays, Jr heard the dozen .223 rounds crash through the back window of the Jeep. He felt the projectiles pierce his flesh.
“I’m hit, I don’t want to die,” Mays told a friend over an open cell line.
After the Jeep came to a stop, Mays sat pinned in the crumpled car, shattered glass and blood everywhere.
Did he see the androgynous militant in a tac vest approaching?
Did he hear the Bond villian delivery?
“Oh, you’re not dead yet?”
Delivered with a hint of uptalk. False bravado. Shooting for Clint in El Torino but sounding like Scott.
As if you gotta channel Clint Fucking Eastwood to deliver Bond villian lines to a dying child.
Hopefully Antonio was out by now.
Or maybe he suffered through the incomprehensibly dark spasm of bullshit spewed out by the LARPing gender fluid adult white leader of CHOP Security Dispatch.
“Yo! Do you wanna get pistol whipped?”
Four seconds later a sharp crack brought an end to this nightmarish scene, witnessed in person by several dozen protest volunteers, organizers, hangers-on, media and area residents.
Stop a minute to think about this.
A shitload of adults stood by while an adult murdered an injured child.
And did nothing.
Put it another way.
A couple dozen of the most dedicated Black Lives Matter and social justice protestors…at a George Floyd protest…in the country’s most liberal city…in the Summer of 2020…
Stood by and witnessed the lynching of an unarmed black child.
And five years later, the murder remains unsolved.
An unarmed black child tormented in public by a white, AR-and-pistol toting non-heteronormative judge, jury and executioner.
And five years later, the story remains largely untold.
Let’s try that again. Rephrase for impact.
A couple white dudes with ARs murdered an unarmed injured black child at a George Floyd protest.
In Seattle. In 2020.
Tons of people know who did it.
But given the choice between justice for a murdered unarmed black child…and facilitating the cover up of an extrajudicial killing?
Welp.
Even the black activists helped the shooters locate spent brass, facilitated their exits, destroyed evidence and mopped up the crime scene.
While the livestreams rolled.
You’re about to see all of it.
Meanwhile, Mays, Jr bled out on the filthy pavement of 12th Street, suffering for another 22 minutes as ill-qualified and unsympathetic leftists jammed gauze into his grievous head and torso wounds before eventually tossing the boy and his 14-year-old friend – also shot in the head and body – into a pair of beat-to-shit four doors, driven by morons barely capable of navigating the barrier maze of streets comprising the ten blocks between the scene of the crime and the trauma center, where the children were unceremoniously dumped.
Antonio Mays, Jr. suffered a painful and gruesome death. He died in agony from his wounds at 3:22 am on the morning of June 29, 2020.
Five Years Later
And yet, as we approach the five year anniversary of the most gruesome public lynching in recent memory, law enforcement in the most progressive city in one of the most progressive states in the country have yet to solve the killing.
And to date, media hasn’t obtained a SPD investigatory file.
No arrests have been made. But note the copywrite.
Although, as J425 will report — two shooters present at CHOP on June 29 have been questioned.
Including one with a history of “killing terrorists” and an online mea culpa that ranks right up there with OJ’s “I didn’t do it, but if I did…”
And despite the fact that Mays’ murder should inarguably be a bigger story than that of the man who sparked the 2020 Summer of protests in the first place?
Almost no one in the northwest talks about it.
Nearly no one outside of Western Washington knows about it.
Not only do Mays’ killers remain publicly unidentified, the largely white, queer affinity group responsible for Chop security remains part of the larger Seattle BLM/Antifa community, despite a brief spate of internal debate after some less than enlightened posts from security team members pleased with their bloody work.
And yet as Pride (Seattle’s 30 days of Christmas) begins in 2025, fissures around the edges of the region’s um unique set of values have appeared.
Rioting has kicked off in what used to be the CHOP.
The Feds are suddenly interested in the City of Seattle’s dedication to intersectional politics.
And in researching this story, J425 has not only uncovered the identities of those responsible, we’ve realized that perhaps the public wisdom needed not only to solve this horrific child murder – but to also address the growing divisions along ideological, geographical and political lines – has been present, here, amongst us…all along.
All of which is to say.
It’s about time to deliver justice to those responsible for the murder of Antonio Mays, Jr.
In the coming days we’ll roll out The Lynching of Antonio Mays, Jr — A J425 exclusive investigative series nearly five years in the making.
We’ll tell you who is responsible for Antonio’s death:
Individually.
We’ll exclusively report and ID the shooters questioned by authorities in the wake of the murder….examine their actions on archived video and social media…and arrive at a conclusion regarding their culpability).
Collectively.
We’ll dissect just how an affinity group of white queer anarchists known mainly for LARPing and sleeping in cuddle puddles ended up tasked with public safety responsibilities for the most raucous protest in the hottest summer since the sixties. More importantly, we’ll tell you whether anyone around here really gives a damn about black lives – or for that matter – the lives of children – when the matter is pressed right up into their grills.
Politically.
We’ll examine how elected and appointed political leaders created the situation that led to Mays’ murder…and how they’ve reacted since. Hint: the Mayor of Seattle tossed her phone in a bucket of water five days after Mays’ murder and the fire chief and police chief both copied this brave idea.
The fact that physical damage to phones shouldn’t also delete all relevant records in the cloud as well didn’t escape a Federal judge – but we’ll get to that.
Locally.
We’ll also examine how black and non-black affinity groups inside the Seattle leftist community reacted to a murder that threatened to lay their entire ethos bare – and we’ll discuss the external coverage of this story.
Or lackthereof.
A child was tormented and murdered by adults. As other adults watched. And no one did a thing.
Most importantly, we’ll talk about why. And how a murder witnessed by so many…has remained unsolved for almost five years – and whether justice for Antonio Mays Jr is anywhere on the horizon.
Finally, we’ll consider just what all of the above means for all of us, both now and in the future.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the endless characteristics and hierarchical sorting possibilities embraced by “the values of our community” as Mayor Harrell puts it.
At the end of the day though?
A child was tormented and murdered by adults. As other adults watched. Nobody did a damn thing about it then.
Nobody has done a damn thing about it since.
Who among is so wedded to an ideology that you’re prepared to sacrifice children?
Because we gotta start noting these people and getting ‘em up outta here.
This shit was a step wayyyy too far.
AND.
All of this was captured on video and livestream.
Any number of bystanders – BLM-affiliated or otherwise – could’ve stepped in as the non-black pseudo cops performed an even more disgusting version of injustice than the type they were supposedly protesting.
No one did.
Dozens of people could’ve identified the killers.
No one did.
A poorly funded investigator of below average ability – armed only with the interest in providing justice to murdered children – could’ve solved the crime. And yet no one has.
And across a media landscape that – one would assume – is rife with producers praying for just ONE good “armed white insurrectionist executes unarmed black person” story…no one has been that eager to take up for Antonio.
Why is that?
Next: Part 2 - The Lynching of Antonio Mays, Jr - We’ve Known All Along
Deep dive into archived media and documents. We’ll show you who shot Antonio and we’ll consider why the case remains unsolved and uncovered — and whether it’ll stay uncovered for much longer.
Lynching: An extrajudicial killing by a group.