"I wish that I had a crystal ball and we could schedule gun violence, but we can’t," Barnes said.
Barnes also snapped at a reporter who questioned how often he's actually in Seattle, citing a PubliCola report that the chief spends most weekends out of town, where his family lives in Chicago.
"Those reports are wrong, do you understand?" Barnes said while a staffer had to hold him back, saying "let's go."
"I have been here working as hard as I can for this city from the day I got here, you got that?" Barnes said.
When asked separately how much time he spends in Chicago, Barnes said, "Certainly I don't travel as often as I would like to."
"Any reports that I am gone every weekend are grossly misstated. I don't have that kind of money. I'm here in Seattle. I love the neighborhood. I love my community, they love me," he said.
Seattle police believed a conflict between small groups appeared to have been the cause of the shooting.
"We believe this teenager opened fire in the crowd, but details are still under investigation," Democratic Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Seattle Police Department for comment.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.