Audio journalist Will James on investigating the unsolved murder of a teenager in Seattle's CHOP zone

Storyboard editor Mark Armstrong sits down with audio documentary producer Will James to discuss his work with Seattle's KUOW and his latest investigative project, a collaboration with journalists from The Seattle Times, NPR's “Embedded” and Omari Salisbury's Converge Media. 

“We Keep Us Safe,” an eight-episode narrative podcast, looks into the unsolved killing of 16-year old Antonio Mays Jr., who was shot in Seattle’s CHOP (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) zone during the 2020 protests following George Floyd's murder.

Alongside Seattle Times reporters Sydney Brownstone and David Gutman, the reporting team interviewed nearly 100 people to investigate the shooting of Mays Jr., which occurred after Seattle police had withdrawn from the protest zone. Mays Jr.'s family won a $30.5 million verdict against the city for negligence over its emergency response to the shooting. 

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Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.