{
  "id": "2017-01-20-university-of-washington-red-square-shooting",
  "slug": "university-of-washington-red-square-shooting-2017-01-20",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of Washington",
    "shortName": "UW",
    "state": "WA",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "UW Alert"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2017-01-20",
    "type": "shooting",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Person shot in the abdomen during protests outside a speaking event at Kane Hall",
    "headlinePublic": "Person shot in the abdomen during protests outside a speaking event at Kane Hall",
    "summary": "Shortly before 8:30 PM PST on January 20, 2017 (Inauguration Day), a man was shot once in the abdomen in [Red Square](https://www.dailyuw.com/news/article_7ba25238-e11a-11e6-9376-6bc9b0ba19c2.html) outside Kane Hall at the University of Washington during protests against a Milo Yiannopoulos speaking event sponsored by the UW College Republicans. [UW Alert sent four text and email notifications](https://komonews.com/news/local/jury-may-be-deadlocked-in-uw-protest-shooting-trial) that night beginning at approximately 10:40 PM PST, and the university initially reported that the suspect was at large before arrests were eventually made. The victim, 34-year-old Joshua Dukes, survived. [Elizabeth Hokoana was later charged with first-degree assault and her husband Marc Hokoana with third-degree assault](https://komonews.com/news/local/woman-charged-in-shooting-during-uw-protest) for the shooting and use of pepper spray; the criminal case ended in a mistrial and subsequent dismissal.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 1
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2017-01-20T22:40:00-08:00",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 10:40 PM PST on January 20, 2017, about two hours after the shooting occurred at approximately 8:30 PM",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from CBS News and Seattle Times reporting on the University of Washington's tweet at approximately 10:40 PM PST indicating the suspect was at large; UW Alert sent 4 texts and email alerts the night of January 20, 2017",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Late evening of January 20, 2017, as police continued the search for the suspect",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "Shooting suspect still at large, search continues. Red Square event has ended, people have left.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/UWAlert/posts/uw-alert-seattle-shooting-suspect-still-at-large-search-continues-red-square-eve/10154095779785718/",
      "sourceDescription": "Verbatim from the official UW Alert (UWAlert) social-media post the night of January 20, 2017",
      "annotations": [
        "Verbatim text from the official UW Alert social-media account, posted as the search for the suspect continued and the Yiannopoulos event in Kane Hall wound down on the night of January 20, 2017",
        "The terse two-sentence format is characteristic of UW Alert's social posts, which mirror the SMS-length constraint of the mass-notification system",
        "The victim, Joshua Dukes, 34, was shot once in the abdomen and transported to Harborview Medical Center; he survived"
      ],
      "characterCount": 96
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestampApprox": "Early morning of January 21, 2017, as the scene was cleared",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from UW News and Daily UW reporting; UW President Ana Mari Cauce issued a formal statement on the morning of January 21 acknowledging the shooting and the university's responsibility to review its speaker-hosting procedures",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Statement from UW President Ana Mari Cauce on shooting incident during protest in Red Square (UW News)",
      "url": "https://www.washington.edu/news/2017/01/20/statement-from-uw-president-ana-mari-cauce-on-shooting-incident-during-protest-in-red-square/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "UW Alert Seattle: Shooting suspect still at large, search continues (official UW Alert social post)",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/UWAlert/posts/uw-alert-seattle-shooting-suspect-still-at-large-search-continues-red-square-eve/10154095779785718/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Red Square shooting leaves UW man wounded (Daily UW)",
      "url": "https://www.dailyuw.com/news/article_7ba25238-e11a-11e6-9376-6bc9b0ba19c2.html",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Man shot outside Milo Yiannopoulos event at University of Washington (CBS News)",
      "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/milo-yiannopoulos-unveristy-of-washington-seattle-man-shot/",
      "type": "national-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Prosecutors charge woman in UW protest shooting, say husband used pepper spray on crowd (KOMO News)",
      "url": "https://komonews.com/news/local/woman-charged-in-shooting-during-uw-protest",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Mistrial declared in UW protest shooting trial (KOMO News)",
      "url": "https://komonews.com/news/local/jury-may-be-deadlocked-in-uw-protest-shooting-trial",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "How the shooting at the UW protest of Milo Yiannopoulos unfolded (Seattle Times)",
      "url": "https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/how-the-shooting-at-the-uw-protest-of-milo-yiannopoulos-unfolded/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Shooting at U of Washington as tensions grow over Milo Yiannopoulos speeches (Inside Higher Ed)",
      "url": "https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/23/shooting-u-washington-tensions-grow-over-milo-yiannopoulos-speeches",
      "type": "national-media"
    }
  ],
  "context": "The January 20, 2017 Red Square shooting at the University of Washington was the first of two major violence-related campus alerts triggered by Milo Yiannopoulos events in the spring of 2017, [the second being the February 1, 2017 Berkeley riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Berkeley_protests). The UW College Republicans had invited Yiannopoulos as part of his national university tour. Protests began in [Red Square](https://www.dailyuw.com/news/article_7ba25238-e11a-11e6-9376-6bc9b0ba19c2.html) (the central brick plaza outside Kane Hall) around 6:00 PM PST, with demonstrators throwing rocks and fireworks and pepper spray deployed. At approximately 8:30 PM PST, Joshua Dukes, 34, was shot once in the abdomen; he was taken to Harborview Medical Center and survived. UW Alert sent four texts and email alerts beginning at approximately 10:40 PM PST, initially reporting the suspect was at large. Elizabeth Hokoana, then 29, acknowledged firing the shot that wounded Dukes but said she acted to protect her husband; prosecutors said her husband Marc Hokoana used pepper spray on protesters before the shooting. Both were charged: she with first-degree assault, he with third-degree assault. [A 2019 criminal trial ended in a mistrial](https://komonews.com/news/local/jury-may-be-deadlocked-in-uw-protest-shooting-trial), and prosecutors subsequently declined to retry the case. [UW President Ana Mari Cauce acknowledged](https://www.washington.edu/news/2017/01/20/statement-from-uw-president-ana-mari-cauce-on-shooting-incident-during-protest-in-red-square/) that the university had been put in an untenable position, compelled by First Amendment law to host the event while being unable to prevent the resulting violence. The case is significant for this archive as a rare instance of an actual shooting occurring during a controversial-speaker protest, and for documenting the approximately two-hour gap between the shooting and the first UW Alert.",
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "shooting",
    "civil-unrest",
    "controversial-speaker",
    "milo-yiannopoulos",
    "red-square",
    "kane-hall",
    "uw-alert",
    "inauguration-day",
    "first-amendment",
    "protest",
    "washington",
    "seattle",
    "public-r1"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-31",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-05-31",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}