Seattle 'CHOP' zone murder suspect pleads not guilty
SEATTLE - The man suspected of shooting 19-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson in Seattle's 'CHOP' zone last year pleaded not guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the case.
The suspect, Marcel Long, 19, entered the plea during a hearing in King County Superior Court.
Long was arrested earlier this month in Des Moines, Wash., after a year-long search and booked into the King County Jail.
Police say he shot and killed Anderson in the early morning hours of June 20, 2020, during the Capitol Hilll Occupied Protest, or CHOP.
Surveillance video showed Long approaching Anderson with a handgun and then chasing the victim as he backed away and ran, police say. Several others tried to hold Long back, but he broke free and fired multiple shots towards Anderson, according to charging documents.
After Anderson was shot, CHOP volunteers rushed him to the hospital in a pick-up truck.
At the time, firefighters said it was too dangerous to enter the scene because it was not secured by police, who said they were met with resistance and had to stay back.
Investigators said Long immediately fled the state after the shooting and was not arrested until he returned to Washington over a year later.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office filed a first-degree murder charge against him Aug. 5, 2020.
Anderson’s mother and father and have filed two different lawsuits against the City of Seattle, saying the city enabled a dangerous environment to exist and failed to help Anderson after he was shot.
