Newly released bodycam footage shows a confrontation between Seattle police officers and a suspected pedophile in a hotel room. The incident occurred earlier this week at a Tukwila, Washington, hotel, and resulted in the fatal shooting of the suspect.

Seattle Police Department (SPD) Chief Adrian Diaz explained that the 67-year-old suspected child predator “arrived at the DoubleTree Suites hotel around 3:13 p.m on Wednesday under the impression that he was meeting two young girls, ages 7 and 11.”

SPD officers with the Washington State Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce were waiting for the suspect inside the room. When the individual arrived, the officers opened the door and confronted the man.

As police opened the door, the suspect pulled out a gun as one of the officers tried to wrest the firearm away from the suspect, video shows.

A gunshot rang out as two other officers could be seen unloading several rounds onto the suspect, killing him at the scene.

“Shots fired, shots fired, suspect down,” one officer could be heard saying.

One of the officers was grazed by a bullet during the deadly incident, but is expected to recover.

“For our officers, these situations are dangerous, unpredictable, and can escalate rapidly,” SPD Chief Adrian Diaz[....] 

It is unclear what the suspect had been accused of doing or what led police to set up the undercover operation.

The footage shows the moment when the officers scuffled with the suspect after he pulled the firearm. At one point, the suspect appeared to be trying to bite one of the officers before the police began opening fire.

To meet underage girls in a hotel room with a gun. pic.twitter.com/vSspHlhtwk

— Doni 🤓🏴🏴‍☠️ (@DoniTheDon_) April 20, 2024

Chief Diaz explained that internet crimes against children have risen by 67 percent from 2022 to 2023.

Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent, told reporters that in many of these situations, law enforcement officials must be prepared for these types of confrontations. She said pedophiles “know when they are caught – they’re going away for a long time and they have nothing to lose.” The former agent recounted two of her colleagues were fatally shot while serving a search warrant for a suspected pedophile years ago.

She says the moment police feel their lives are in danger, they are trained to react.

“An officer does not have to wait to be fired at before deadly force is justified,” Parker says.

“Officers apply deadly force until the subject no longer presents a threat and in this instance, it appears that is exactly what they did. This was a lawful use of deadly force.”

RedState’s Bob Hoge in 2023 wrote about a report showing how child predators are adopting more creative methods to find their prey – using social media to hunt for children.

The Wall Street Journal dropped a bombshell report Wednesday charging that one of the chief enablers in the disturbed world of child pornography is none other than Instagram. Not only is illicit material hosted there, but the recommendation algorithm actually points users to where they can get more:

Instagram, the popular social-media site owned by Meta Platforms, helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content, according to investigations by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Pedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests, the Journal and the academic researchers found. [emphasis mine]

At a time when child predators are seeking out new ways to abuse minors, law enforcement officials have faced challenges with keeping up with these new methods. However, in this case, it appears SPD managed to stop this particular individual from claiming more victims.