White Man Shoots Black Veteran in Broad Daylight Demanding ID

A Veteran’s Fight for Survival and Justice After a Shocking Attack

Harold Powell Sr., a Navy veteran who has spent decades playing music near Seattle’s waterfront, is still coming to terms with the traumatic event that nearly took his life. On July 31, he was shot in broad daylight during a confrontation that prosecutors describe as both senseless and deliberate. The attack left him with a gunshot wound to the chest and shattered his sense of safety and community.

Powell, who uses a wheelchair, was sitting outside a Starbucks at Pier 55 when the incident occurred. He described the moment he was shot as one of shock and fear. “I seen the slug. I can see the heat of the slug coming at me and then just, ‘boom!’ Knocked me back,” he recounted to local station KIRO. At that moment, he thought he was going to die.

Despite the severity of the injury, Powell was released from the hospital days later. His doctors were amazed that he survived after being shot in the chest, as the bullet cracked his ribs but missed his vital organs. “They didn’t believe it: after all these x-rays that I can live after being shot like that,” he said.

The attack has left a deep impact on Powell’s family, who believe the incident was a hate crime. Powell is Black, and his attacker, 32-year-old Gregory William Timm, is white. The confrontation began when Timm accused Powell of lying about his military service and demanded that he show proof of his service. According to charging documents and video reviewed by prosecutors, the encounter turned hostile almost immediately.

Timm allegedly ripped a military patch from Powell’s wheelchair and demanded that he show identification. In response, Powell tried to retrieve his ID, but tensions escalated when he also reached for a small knife from his bag for protection. He had a holstered airsoft gun, which resembled a real firearm, attached to his chair. A video of the incident shows Powell pulling it out of his bag.

That’s when, prosecutors allege, Timm stepped back about 12 feet, pulled a .45 caliber handgun from a shoulder bag, and fired once directly into Powell’s chest. Bystanders screamed and scattered, some shielding children as Powell slumped in his chair.

After firing, Timm slid his pistol back into his bag, raised his hands, and shouted reassurances to witnesses: “It’s all right, everybody!” He continued yelling at Powell to “show me your ID” and accused him of pulling a gun.

A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer nearby heard the gunfire and rushed over, detaining Timm on the spot. Seattle police arrived moments later, recovered the handgun, and placed him under arrest.

Timm is no stranger to politically charged violence. In 2020, he made national headlines after plowing his car into a Republican voter registration tent in Jacksonville, Florida. At the time, he told police he “did not like President Trump” and later testified that he believed his actions were his “duty.”

Now, King County prosecutors have charged him with first-degree assault, a Class A felony that carries the potential for life in prison. His bail has been set at $750,000.

Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said Timm cannot claim self-defense when he provoked the altercation. “If you’re the one who’s the first aggressor who provokes an altercation, you lose the right to claim self-defense effectively under state law,” McNerthney told King 5.

Powell’s children have launched a GoFundMe to help cover the enormous costs of his recovery, describing their father as a proud Black man, a disabled hero, and a survivor of both war and systemic injustice. “Our dad was targeted in what we believe was a hate crime and shot in the chest in a senseless act of violence,” the family wrote. “After everything he’s survived, Vietnam-era submariner, injury, disability, and systemic injustice, he is now fighting for his life again in a hospital room.”

The family says Powell will need help with medical bills, therapy, mobility aids, and basic living expenses while he’s unable to work. “This isn’t just about survival — it’s about justice, healing, and dignity,” the fundraiser reads. “He has served, he has sacrificed, and now he needs his community to rally around him.”