Seattle Mayor Was Arrested on Gun Charges at Ameristar Council Bluffs in 1996

Posted on: February 24, 2025, 07:26h. 

Last updated on: February 24, 2025, 09:05h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell was arrested for brandishing a gun at casino in 1996
  • Harrell claims he was receiving death threats and feared for his life
  • Charges were later dropped

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell was arrested in 1996 for brandishing a gun during an altercation at the Ameristar Council Bluffs casino in Iowa, according to recently resurfaced court documents.

Seattle Mayor, Bruce Harrell, Ameristar Council Bluff, gun charges
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, above, claimed that he had been receiving death threats and may have believed his life was in danger at the time of the incident. (Image: Crosscut)

The mayor, then 37 and working as a lawyer in Omaha, Neb., was charged with three misdemeanor offenses: carrying a concealed gun, brandishing a weapon toward another person, and resisting arrest. The charges were later dropped.

Denies Pointing Gun

Harrell visited the casino with a friend on Sept. 29, 1996, according to a report in The Omaha World-Herald at the time. At around 12:30 a.m., he was approached by several people in the casino parking lot. Witnesses told police Harrell was seen brandishing a gun at someone, the paper reported.

When confronted by a police officer, Harrel said he “did not display a handgun to anyone,” explaining witnesses might have mistaken his watch or cellphone for a firearm.

When police searched his car, they found a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol that he didn’t have a permit for in Iowa. Harrell “refused to cooperate” and was arrested after a “brief struggle,” according to the prosecutor who later dropped the charges.

Harrell doesn’t deny any of this happened, but he did deny via a spokesperson that he misled officers about the gun.

“Mayor Harrell made it clear to the officer he never pointed a gun at anyone, which was a response to the question he was asked by the officer,” said mayoral spokesperson Jamie Housen. “The officer may have interpreted that as the mayor saying he never showed anyone the gun.”

Death Threats

At the time, Harrell had been nominated to the public housing board in Omaha. This led to death threats because certain members of the community wanted someone who lived in public housing to be nominated instead.

Harrel told reporters at the time that he mistakenly believed someone in the parking lot was one of those who had threatened him. He also believed he had been racially profiled and that the search had been illegal.

Court documents indicate that the people who reported him to the police were Hispanic and also believed Harrell, whose heritage is African American and Japanese American, was also Hispanic.

The prosecuting attorney noted there were mitigating circumstances in the case, including that Harrell may have believed his life was in danger. However, the prosecutor found his lack of cooperation with arresting officers “unreasonable” and insisted he apologize to them as a condition of dropping the charges.