EDWIN PRATT

On January 26, 1969, Edwin Pratt, a Black man who served as the director of the Seattle Urban League, was shot and killed when he opened the door to his home to investigate a noise outside.  Witnesses reported seeing two men in Pratt’s driveway just before the fatal shot was fired, and they further reported that the men escaped in a getaway car.  In the immediate aftermath of the murder, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) worked with the King County Sheriff’s Office (“KCSO”) and Seattle Police Department (“SPD”) to investigate the matter.  The FBI reopened the case in 1994, and the Department of Justice (“the Department”) opened the case again in 2019.  Although these investigations resulted in a list of likely suspects, the identities of Pratt’s murderers and the motive behind the crime have never been confirmed with certainty.