Local
Federal agents detain driver across from North Seattle elementary school
Masked agents arrested a man in a parking lot near KapKa Cooperative Elementary during morning drop-off, prompting staff to reroute families and secure the school grounds. The man has no known connection to the school or nearby church, and officials have not said why he was detained.
A man was arrested by federal immigration agents Tuesday morning in a parking lot across from KapKa Cooperative Elementary School in North Seattle as families were arriving for drop-off, school officials said.
The arrest took place around 8:25 a.m. at Phinney Avenue North and North 49th Street, south of Woodland Park. Lisa Norris, the school’s head, said a car pursued by three vehicles entered the lot. Four masked agents got out and shouted in English and Spanish for the driver to show a visa and identification, she said. At least one agent wore a vest marked “POLICE ICE.”
After the man did not leave his car, agents broke the driver-side window, opened the door and pulled him out, Norris said. They handcuffed him against the vehicle and drove him away in an unmarked car. Two of the three vehicles pursuing him had no license plates, she said.
The man is not connected to the school or Emmanuel Church, which owns the parking lot and shares its building with the school. It was not clear why he was detained. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A teacher who noticed the vehicles alerted school staff. Under the school’s protocol for immigration enforcement incidents, staff redirected families to another entrance and stood by the gates to keep agents from entering school grounds. Community members recorded videos of the arrest, Norris said.
No families had direct contact with the agents, and children did not see the arrest, she said. “Our first priority is the elementary school students, making sure they’re safe,” Norris said.
Norris said staff and families were shocked by the arrest, which unfolded in view of the school’s play yard. The possibility of violence during the operation heightened their concern, she said.
Emmanuel Church senior pastor Bob Zurinsky described the incident in an email as emotionally unsettling for church and school staff and families who were present. The school shared information about the incident with families, along with resources on immigration-related questions children may raise. Staff also sent videos and details to the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, which tracks encounters through a hotline.
The arrest follows another immigration enforcement encounter near a local school: last October, federal agents detained a mother outside an Issaquah Spanish-language immersion preschool after stopping her as she dropped off her child.