Ellington

At approximately 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day, UW senior Miles Allen Murphy was shot several times by Seattle Police Department officers in the basement stairwell of his apartment complex near the corner of Northeast 52nd Street and 17th Avenue Northeast. He died hours later after being taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Murphy, 22, was dressed in a World War II-era German military outfit. Along with the uniform, Murphy also had an authentic WWII rifle with an attached bayonet, which witnesses say he was firing into the alley behind his apartment before police arrived.

“I was woken up by three or four loud bangs,” said a tenant who lives in Murphy’s building. “I just assumed they were firecrackers.”

The tenant wished to have his name witheld.

The tenant said he looked out his bedroom window and saw three or four young men in the alley behind the apartment, two of them armed with rifles and one of whom was dressed in a WWII-era military uniform. The tenant did not know at the time that the young man dressed in the uniform was his neighbor, Murphy, who lived in the basement apartment.

After watching the men fire three rounds over the top of a residential house, the tenant decided to call 911. He was one of several people who called in that night.

Minutes later, four officers arrived on scene, two armed with rifles. They confronted Murphy as he was standing in the basement entrance to the apartment building.

“They shouted as many as eight or 10 times, identifying themselves as police officers and saying very clearly and loudly to put down the gun,” the tenant said. “It was pretty unmistakable.”

According to The Seattle Times, officers fired seven rounds after Murphy pointed his rifle at the officers.

“It sounded like a volley of fire all at once, and then I didn’t hear anything,” the tenant said.

After securing the scene, police officers confirmed that Murphy’s rifle had been loaded with blanks. Alcohol was determined to be a factor and was found inside the apartment, according to a Times article.

Murphy was a senior in the Germanics department at the UW. Those who knew him were shocked to hear of his death.

“The Miles Murphy I got to know in class was perceptive, conscientious, thoughtful and intelligent,” said Hellmut Ammerlahn, a professor in the Germanics department who had Murphy in class last quarter. “He struck me as highly disciplined, a model of neatness, modesty and gentleness in appearance as well as in behavior.”

Eric Ames, an advisor in the Germanics Department, had Murphy in several classes.

“He was a very good student on the dean’s list,” Ames said. “Quiet and reserved but very intelligent and hard working. He was always present; he had a lot of potential.”

According to the Times, the two police officers who fired rounds have been placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases. The shooting is currently being investigated, but no wrongdoing on the officers’ part is suspected.

Students who live in the surrounding area north of campus have conflicted feelings about the incident.

“It’s sad that it happened but if [Murphy] wasn’t responding to police I guess it was their best option,” said Meagan Zoerb, a UW senior who lives only two blocks away from where the shooting occurred. “It’s good to know that there were a lot of police around, but it’s scary to know that police would shoot somebody. I just don’t know.”

The tenant who lives in Murphy’s building and dialed 911 has been trying to make sense of the events since they happened.

“I think the root of this is some exceptionally bad judgment,” he said. “None of us will ever know what Miles was thinking.”

Reach news editor Casey Smith at news@dailyuw.com.