SEATTLE — Near the corner of Third Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle, the family of a fifteen-year-old Michael “Mikey” DelBianco hopes to send a message to anyone who will listen.
DelBianco was shot and killed on the 1500 block of Third Avenue on Wednesday night. He was killed in an area of town that has become the site of increasing violence and crime in the downtown core.
“I will fight for this for the rest of my life, there has got to be police. There has been such lack of police in the last two years when we needed them most,” said Jodi Gulling, DelBianco’s grandmother.
Jodi Gulling raised DelBianco and in the last few months feared she was losing him to people she didn’t know. Wednesday night, her fears came true.
“I hear about the area so when I found out that’s where he was shot I was just like ‘oh my God, this is not happening. These kids are kids,’” Gulling said.
DelBianco was shot and left for dead in a part of the city that for years has been plagued by drugs and crime. A killing that comes at a time when business owners are increasingly pleading with the city for help.
In the wake of DelBianco’s death, Seattle Police moved a mobile precinct in the area and have posted officers on the corner. The mayor and chief are confident change is coming.
“We're working with the King County Sheriff's office on supporting emphasis around bus stops and we continue to conduct a variety of operations that are feeding into the violence from drug sales to organized retail theft," said Seattle’s Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz.
For DelBianco's grandmother, it’s too little too late – her focus now is on someone else’s loved ones.
“We’re not afraid. We want to stand up for our kids, for our community, for everyone and it’s not, it’s not something I’m going to take lightly, there has to be justice done in that area for everyone that has been hurt,” Gulling said.