TUKWILA, Wash. — The family of a teen shot and killed in the parking lot at Southcenter Mall a year and a half ago pleading for answers.
Tukwila Police said Jashawna Hollingsworth’s case is very much open and active. However, no arrests have been made and that has lead her family to up the reward for information that leads to an arrest to $5,000.
For Jaala Brown, the pain of losing a child never lessens.
“It's hard waking up in the morning and not seeing her there,” said Jaala Brown, Jashawna’s mother.
It's been a year and a half since her 17-year-old daughter Jashawna Hollingsworth was shot and killed.
“It feels like yesterday. I was in the hospital all that time. I never left at all because that's my baby I’m not leaving,” Brown said.
On Nov. 24, 2021, the day before Thanksgiving, Jashawna went to Westfield Southcenter Mall with her boyfriend who was home from college for the holiday and his family.
Jeanine Burley, her boyfriend's mother, was there.
“They were walking about before me holding hands and kissing, then life changed for everyone,” Burley said.
Jashawna and her boyfriend were shot in the parking lot outside of JC Penney. Her boyfriend was shot multiple times and survived.
“He’s alive but trauma is forever,” Burley said.
Now, both mothers are working together to find who pulled the trigger.
“Jaala needs justice for what happened to her only baby. That is difficult. That is her only baby and she was just so sweet,” Burley said.
Jashawna, a beloved senior at Rainier Beach High School had plans to go to nursing school when her life was cut short.
Now, a new $5,000 reward is offered for information that leads to an arrest for her murder.
“We really want justice. There's some aunties, uncles and cousins. Somebody knows something,” Burley said.
While they wait, they won’t give up hope.
“We're going to keep going. God is good and we're going to keep fighting,” Burley said.
If you have any information contact Tukwila Police Department at 206-492-9007 or Detective Akimoto at 206-492-9007.