He lives in Tacoma, but Brian Gatewood has family and friends who live in Renton.

“It’s a beautiful area I had given thought to moving to previously,” Gatewood said “Until I dealt with Renton (police) about my father.”

An article published on Dec. 4 by Seattle Times reporter Christine Clarridge revealed details of Gatewood’s lawsuit against the city of Renton for the police department’s investigation of the death 58-year-old Gary Gatewood. The suit was dismissed in July.

Gary Gatewood was found in his home on Feb. 12, 2017. Officers told Gatewood his father’s death appeared to be natural or health related, but they were called back to the scene when a biohazard cleanup crew noted skull fragments and blood splatters, according to court documents.

Police said the death appeared to be accidental after further investigation. The medical examiner determined Gary Gatewood died of a shotgun wound, but wasn’t able to determine if he was killed or died accidentally, court documents show.

Gatewood said since the article, he’s now heard other people’s negative interactions with local police, and he’s been speaking with national organizations about his story. Renton leaders will be watching for public reactions, but no policy changes are being considered.

Police Cmdr. David Leibman, in a statement for readers about this case, said the department has dedicated officers who want to best serve the public.

“As in this case, any time the public is disappointed with our actions we examine what we did to see if we can do better,” Leibman said.

Gatewood also sent an email to Councilmember Ed Prince during the lawsuit. Prince replied that he was unable to comment due to the pending litigation. In the email, Gatewood said police treated his father “like just another dead black man, no compassion for him, myself or my family… because of it I will never know what happened or who did this.”

Linda Smith of the Renton African American Pastor Group said after reading the article she called police chief Ed VanValey. Smith said after talking to VanValey she was “confident it was not a race issue,” and that police had not been aware of this until they saw the article.

If the issue of race was involved at the time of the lawsuit, Smith said, former chief Milosevich or VanValey would have contacted her.

Gatewood said he has lost trust in law enforcement and the judicial system, and said talk of injustice in America never hit home for him until now.

He said there is no grey area: wrongdoings should always be addressed.

“When things like this are swept under the rug and no one has to accept accountability, it forces people to lose trust in the very people who we’ve trusted to protect and serve,” Gatewood said.

Gatewood still doesn’t know what to expect from the Times’ article, but he said the response has been big for him, and people have gotten behind it with their outrage and disgust. He also posted a video about the incident on his father’s birthday in September that had over 9,000 views on Facebook.

The police department hasn’t received any calls about the article, Leibman said, but noticed the attention to it on social media. No internal investigation or punitive actions were taken after the incident.

Previous protocols have been refocused since, but saying they weren’t followed by officers at the scene is “not entirely accurate,” Leibman said.

“The cause of oversight was officers deciding evidence matched the diagnosis that EMS provided too early in the investigation,” he said.

This oversight is where Gatewood wants to see accountability, but after the lawsuit he said he also wants to see laws change, including the public duty doctrine that had his case dismissed.

His attorney withdrew once it was dismissed, but Gatewood still appealed pro se— on his own behalf. That motion for reconsideration was denied.

“Even if I never get answers about what actually happened to my father, I hope his story can affect legal changes so that death is investigated properly in this state, and if not, accountability is ensured,” Gatewood said.

Smith said they will determine if there is “anything (the Renton African American Pastor group and police) can learn from this moving forward” based on public response.