Andrew Thomas “Drew” Keriakedes, a 45-year-old white male, was killed on May 30, 2012, in Seattle, Washington, when a gunman opened fire inside Café Racer in the University District. A beloved local performer known onstage as “Shmootzi the Clod,” Keriakedes was part of the folk outfit God’s Favorite Beefcake and a fixture of Seattle’s arts scene. Public memorials and remembrances that followed spoke to his darkly comic stage persona and generous spirit, underscoring how deeply he was woven into the city’s music and circus-burlesque communities.
The violence began late that morning when the assailant entered the café and, after lingering, drew a. 45-caliber handgun and shot patrons at close range; four people at Café Racer were fatally wounded and a fifth person was injured. Roughly half an hour later, the same shooter killed a woman, Gloria Leonidas, during a carjacking on First Hill before fleeing across the city. The day ended with the perpetrator’s self-inflicted death on a West Seattle sidewalk as officers closed in, bringing a grim conclusion to a citywide manhunt.
Police identified the perpetrator as Ian Lee Stawicki, who acted alone during the spree. Because Stawicki died by suicide the same afternoon, there were no arrests in Keriakedes’s killing, and authorities did not announce any additional suspects connected to the Café Racer attack. Investigative accounts and contemporaneous reporting have consistently attributed the shootings solely to Stawicki.
