A disabled Navy veteran is recovering after being shot by a white man who accused him of “stolen valor.”
According to KIRO, 68-year-old Harold Powell was performing music in his wheelchair outside the Starbucks at Pier 55 in Seattle, Washington on July 31 when he was shot in the chest. Powell survived the shooting after being hospitalized for a few days.
“More shocked I think than anything else,” the Navy veteran recalled of the shooting. “I just got hit really hard right here in the chest where he hit me real close… I just went to ‘I’m gonna die,’ so let me call my family. Forget everything else.”
32-year-old suspected shooter Gregory William Timm, who is white, was charged with first-degree assault. King County prosecutors said Timm initiated the confrontation after accusing Powell of “stolen valor” and demanding that he show military identification. At one point during the encounter, Timm ripped a military patch from Powell’s wheelchair.
Powell, a Vietnam-era submariner, attempted to retrieve his ID and grabbed a small knife for protection. He also pulled an airsoft gun from his bag after Timm confronted him.
Timm then pulled a handgun from his shoulder bag and shot Powell in the chest. The suspected shooter put the gun back in his bag, raised his hands, yelled, “It’s all right, everybody,” as chaos ensued among bystanders. He was detained at the scene by a wildlife officer.
Timm’s bail was set at $750,000.
“If you’re the one who’s the first aggressor who provokes an altercation, you lose the right to claim self-defense,” Casey McNerthney of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.
Powell’s family launched a GoFundMe to help cover medical bills and living expenses.
“Our dad was targeted in what we believe was a hate crime and shot in the chest in a senseless act of violence,” they wrote. “He has served, he has sacrificed, and now he needs his community to rally around him.”
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