Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes has resigned less than a week after a deadly shooting at one of the city’s largest summer festivals, as questions mounted over how authorities handled the aftermath of the violence. Mayor Katie Wilson announced the resignation on Thursday and named Deputy Chief Andre Sayles, a veteran officer with more than two decades of law enforcement experience, as interim chief.

The move came after three people were killed and four others injured, including a two-year-old boy, in a shootout on Sunday at the annual Bite of Seattle food festival. Dozens of officers were already providing security at the event, and court documents say at least one officer witnessed a 15-year-old suspect firing into the crowd and quickly persuaded him to surrender. Police are still searching for at least one additional suspect. The shooting unfolded while Barnes was attending a law enforcement conference outside the city.

While Wilson praised the officers’ response at the scene and said their actions likely saved lives, she criticized the city’s communication with the public in the hours that followed. Police posted about the shooting on social media shortly after it began but then went nearly five hours without providing another update, leaving residents uncertain whether there was an ongoing threat. The city also failed to send alerts through its emergency notification system, and Wilson herself mistakenly announced that two suspects had been taken into custody before later retracting the statement. She acknowledged she did not fully grasp how little information had reached the public and the press and said she would have pushed for an immediate briefing had she known.

Barnes described serving as Seattle’s police chief as an honor and said he hoped the transition would allow the department to refocus on addressing youth gun violence. His departure followed hours of speculation about his future, with supporters saying he had resisted calls from Wilson to step down. Several Black community organizations, including the Seattle NAACP and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, urged Wilson not to make Barnes, the city’s second Black police chief, a scapegoat. They credited him with improving relations between police and the community and reducing gun violence, while several City Council members noted that Seattle has now had four police chiefs in less than three years. The resignation was announced as Seattle prepares for another major weekend event with the annual Seafair festival set to begin on Friday.