Capitol Hill Massacre - Timeline

Timeline

Prior to the shooting, on the evening of Friday, March 24, 2006, a "Better Off Undead" event 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 event (with over 20 security personnel on staff). At the event, Kyle Huff was invited to attend an afterparty at a home about a mile away. Sometime between 4 am and 6 am on Saturday morning Huff left the event to attend the afterparty.

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. Nobody recalls him leaving, and there was no altercation or belligerent behavior exhibited by Huff.

Huff left the house and returned to his large truck, parked nearby. From the truck he retrieved a 12-gauge pistol-grip Winchester 1300 Defender shotgun and a .40-caliber semiautomatic Ruger P944 handgun, and several bandoliers (over 300 rounds) worth of ammunition for the guns. On his way back to the after party, he spray-painted the word "NOW" on the sidewalk and on the steps of a neighboring home. Upon arrival, he shot five victims who were outside talking: two on the steps, the others on the porch. He forced his way in through the front door of the house and shot two 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 one other victim was injured during the shooting and taken to Harborview Medical Center, and at least one died at the hospital.

The shooting inside the house lasted five 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.

Following the shooting, police found that Huff's truck contained a Bushmaster XM15 E2S rifle, 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.

On March 28, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, led by the Rev. Sanford Brown and other local clergy, held an interfaith prayer service at the site of the mass murder. The service was attended by over 500 people.