Seattle Protest Shooting: 1 Wounded at UW as Demonstrators Shout Down Right-Wing Speaker

SEATTLE, WA — Police say a man was shot in the abdomen Friday night at a University of Washington protest on the night of President Donald Trump's inauguration. The crowd was unruly, with bottles, firecrackers and blue paint being thrown as protesters disrupted a speech by a controversial right-wing speaker.

Police moved the wounded man from the scene around 8:30 p.m. The UW Alert Twitter feed reports the shooting was in the vicinity of Red Square. The wounded man suffered a "possible life-threatening injury," according to the Seattle Fire Department, and has been taken to Harborview Medical Center.

A reporter from the Seattle Times spoke with a UW student who tried to render aid to the wounded man.

“He was just lying there,” Alex Franke told the paper. “There was so much blood, it was hard to tell.”

Several hundred protesters, some in masks, managed to delay a sold-out event on campus featuring Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Some protesters fought with people who came to hear Yiannopoulos speak. Many police officers from SPD and UW Police remain on scene in riot gear.

Yiannopoulous took the stage at Kane Hall late. After hearing of the shooting, he left the stage but returned.

"If we don't continue, they have won," he told his audience, but then said he would stop the event if the shooting proved to be fatal.

After the speech concluded, around 9:20 p.m., police decided to keep attendees inside Kane Hall because the situation was too dangerous outside, according to tweets from people inside the building.

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Police said one person was hit with a paint-filled balloon. Police also said bricks were thrown, but people on scene at the demonstration disputed that statement. Another person reportedly suffered a head injury later in the evening, according to police.

An anti-Trump protest also took place on campus earlier in the afternoon, and demonstrators from that group merged with those who came to shout down and shut down the Yiannopoulos event.

The Seattle protests coincide with dozens of demonstrations across the country as Donald Trump assumed the presidency Friday.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates. Reporting by Patch local field editor Neal McNamara, who is on the scene.