A busy Pioneer Square morning turned deadly on September 24, 2014, when 22-year-old Melvin V. TayTay Dees was shot outside near Second Avenue and Yesler Way. Dees, a Black man who had recently moved to Seattle from Minnesota, was struck multiple times, including in the back, at about 10:40 a.m. One of the bullets even hit the nearby Smith Tower. He ran a short distance after being shot, collapsed, and later died at Harborview Medical Center.

Seattle police reviewed surveillance footage and interviewed witnesses; six days later a 17-year-old, Kenneth Jones, was arrested in Federal Way. Jones told detectives he had seen Dees in the square and decided to shoot him. Motive remained unclear, and Jones declined to name anyone else; an older cousin was suggested as a possible influence. In October 2017 Jones, charged as an adult, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a 20-year prison sentence after a firearm enhancement was dropped as part of a plea agreement.

If anyone witnessed that morning in Pioneer Square or knew Melvin Dees, any additional information could help fill remaining gaps about why this happened.