Seattle mayor hospitalized after attack

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Mayor Paul Schell was attacked at a community event Saturday and was hospitalized, a police spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for Harborview Medical Center, where Schell was sent, said the mayor was admitted for observation and is in satisfactory condition with a fractured right cheekbone and lacerations.

Capt. Metz of the Seattle Police Department said the mayor was attending a community event in the city's Central District. During the mayor's speech, he was heckled by a man in the crowd with a megaphone.

The suspect, James Garett, 55, approached Schell in the crowd after the speech, hitting the mayor in the face with the metal megaphone.

Metz said the suspect was immediately taken into custody, while Schell, 63, was rushed to the hospital.

One witness said there was blood everywhere.

"He was knocked out, he was down for several minutes," the witness said of the mayor.

The mayor's spokesman, Dick Lilly, denied that the mayor was "knocked out."

"The mayor was knocked down, but he never lost consciousness," Lilly said.

Metz said the suspect is "very well known ... as an active protester." Metz said Garett was angry that the festival was being held in a neighborhood where a white police officer shot and killed a black suspect last month.

Metz said the man who attacked Schell was shouting about racial profiling and other racial issues during the mayor's speech.

Schell's campaign spokeswoman, Karen Besserman, told CNN the mayor's staff is with him at Harborview Medical Center, a Seattle hospital.

"He's in good spirits," Lilly said. "He's watching the Mariners' game with an ice pack over one eye."

Schell is running for re-election, with his first term about to come to a close. The primary election is in September, followed by the general election in November.