(Image: Converge Media with permission to CHS)

It has been one year since Elijah Lewis was killed in a road rage shooting and loved ones and supporters gathered to call for extra scrutiny in the case involving a white man accused of shooting and killing a black man in the middle of a busy early evening on the streets of Capitol Hill.

The path to justice in the case continues.

Defendant Patrick Cooney pleaded not guilty in the April 1st killing and has remained jailed on $2 million bail since.

Court proceedings have been mostly quiet in the case with hearings that have repeatedly pushed back any trial date. Court filings show the most recent hearing called for an October 2024 start.

Cooney, a Yesler Terrace area resident, faces charges of second degree murder and first degree assault.

Lewis, 23 years old at the time of the killing, is remembered as a dedicated community builder and entrepreneur in the Central District and Africatown communities. Lewis was proud of his efforts as a self-described “serial entrepreneur” in addition to his work with Sankofa Theater and doing outreach for the Africatown Community Land Trust and events like this Black Wall Street festival. A USA Today columnist wrote that Lewis “could have been the next MLK.” Lewis was honored last summer during the work to refresh the Black Lives Matter mural on E Pine.

The King County Prosecutor says Lewis was on Capitol Hill the night of April 1st, 2023 to pick up his nephew from his nearby apartment home and take him to a monster truck rally at Lumen Field to celebrate the child’s birthday.

Police say Cooney was riding an electric scooter on E Pine just after 5 PM when he became embroiled in an altercation and opened fire into the vehicle Lewis was driving, striking the man with a fatal shot and hitting the child in the calf. The child was treated for his injuries and released from the hospital. Lewis was shot in the chest and died at Harborview later that night.

Police say security video from the Walgreens at the corner of Broadway and Pine shows Cooney opening fire on the car even as it was turning to leave the area onto Broadway. Police say five spent shell casings were found at the scene. Three bullets were accounted for including the one that killed Lewis. Autopsy results show he had been shot in the back.

Court documents do not include any information explaining why Cooney felt it was necessary to open fire and the police report included in the charges does not include an account of the events from Cooney. It is not clear if police were able to interview the suspect.

The prosecutor’s office said Cooney held a concealed pistol license.

Lewis’s killing was part of what proved to be a deadly year across the Central District and on Capitol Hill with record homicides across Seattle. It was also the first in a burst of loss of young, black lives in a few blocks around Broadway in 2023.

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