Naveed Afzal Haq grabbed the niece of Federation employee Cheryl Stumbo in the building's lobby and held a gun to the girl's back, using her as a key to gain access to the offices upstairs. 'I'm only doing this for a statement,' he told her. After the girl locked herself in a bathroom and called 911, Haq began shooting. Carol Goldman was hit in the knee before she could complete her own call for help. Layla Bush, Cheryl Stumbo, and Christina Rexroad were shot in the abdomen. Pamela Waechter, the Federation's director of annual giving, was struck in the chest; as she tried to flee down a stairway, Haq shot her again in the head, killing her. Dayna Klein, 37 years old and 17 weeks pregnant, came face to face with the gunman. Tammy Kaiser, a 33-year-old adult education director, escaped by dropping from a second-story window. By 4:15 p.m., Haq had surrendered to police, walking out of the building with his hands on his head.

The aftermath drew an unusual coalition of voices. Mayor Greg Nickels and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske announced that the city would deploy security patrols to protect not only synagogues and Jewish buildings but also mosques, recognizing the danger of retaliatory violence. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, along with five local Muslim organizations, issued a joint statement: 'We refuse to see the violence in the Middle East spill over to our cities and neighborhoods. We reject and categorically condemn any attacks against the Jewish community and stand in solidarity with the Jewish Federation in this tragedy.' Haq's own parents expressed devastation. 'We could not have imagined for a moment that our son would do this senseless act,' they wrote. 'This is utterly contrary to our beliefs and Islamic values.' The Church Council of Greater Seattle also condemned the attack. In a city where interfaith dialogue had long been practiced, the response modeled a form of communal resilience that drew national attention.

The legal process was prolonged and complicated. Haq's bail was set at $50 million. He was charged with nine felonies: aggravated murder, five counts of attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary, and malicious harassment, the last being Washington State's legal designation for a hate crime. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty, citing Haq's documented history of mental illness. Two victims, Layla Bush and Carol Goldman, publicly supported this decision, both stating that death would be 'too easy for him.' Haq initially offered to plead guilty, then reversed course. His first trial, in 2008, ended in a mistrial when the jury hung on most counts. Recordings of telephone conversations between Haq and his mother, which contradicted his defense of mental defect, strengthened the prosecution's resolve to retry. In December 2009, a second jury found him guilty on all counts, including aggravated first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole plus 120 years.

Haq's background defied easy categorization. Born in 1975, he was an American of Pakistani descent living in Pasco, Washington. He had graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a biology degree in 1998, attended the University of Pennsylvania's dental school before dropping out, and later earned an electrical engineering degree from Washington State University. Despite identifying himself as 'a Muslim American' during the attack, he had rarely attended a mosque in the decade prior and had converted to Christianity the previous year, receiving baptism at an evangelical church in Kennewick in December 2005 before drifting away. Prosecutor Maleng classified the attack as a hate crime, not terrorism. Journalists at The Stranger, a Seattle alternative weekly, argued that Haq's motivations were rooted in personal isolation and frustration rather than ideology, describing his political rhetoric as 'a veneer of politics on a man disturbed by feelings of inadequacy and rejection.'

The Jewish Federation Building at 2031 Third Avenue was demolished in 2017 to make way for a residential tower. The physical site of the shooting no longer exists. But the event's impact on Seattle endures in ways both visible and invisible: in the heightened security protocols adopted by religious institutions across the city, in the interfaith relationships that were tested and strengthened, and in the memory of Pamela Waechter, the sole fatality, whose colleagues described her as someone driven by a passion for improving her neighbors' lives. The Federation itself continued its work, honoring its mission to ensure Jewish survival and enhance the quality of Jewish life. The shooting remains classified as the worst hate crime in Washington State history. It stands as a reminder that hatred can strike in places dedicated to community service, and that the response of a city, its willingness to protect all its communities and to refuse the cycle of retaliation, can define the legacy as much as the violence itself.