Seattle, Washington (AP) September 2010

Several hundred demonstrators, many Native American tribal members, protested the shooting of John T. Williams, marching to city hall and meeting with the city’s mayor.

The Seattle Times reports that demonstrators sang and drummed in the city hall building.

On Aug. 30, Seattle Officer Ian Birk fatally shot 50-year-old John T. Williams, a First Nations totem carver. Birk saw Williams with a knife and repeatedly ordered him to drop it just before shooting him four times from a distance of 9 to 10 feet. Members of Seattle’s Native American community and civil rights advocates have criticized the officer’s actions, questioning whether deadly force was necessary.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn told the crowd that the Seattle will be held accountable in the shooting and called the shooting a “tragedy.”