TACOMA, Wash. — A car pulled up to Tacoma General in the early morning hours of Dec. 30.
Inside, three people were shot. One of them, 15-year-old Russell Walker, III, ultimately died from his wounds.
During a Tuesday press conference, Russell’s mother, Alicia, says she can still remember the haunting details of the night she got the call, hearing her nephew’s voice from her son’s phone.
“Michael ended up calling me at about 2 in the morning, might have been a little after 2, from my son’s phone, and I was like, 'hello?' And he was like, Auntie, we’re shot!” she said. “I said, shot? What do you mean? And he was like, I don’t think Russ is going to make it, and he’s screaming hysterically, and that sound of Michael’s voice renders through my head all the time. It’s like a reoccurring nightmare.”
So far, no suspects have been arrested for the shooting.
Jacquelyn Saunders says her son, Michael, was also in the car and suffered injuries to his leg and back from gunshots. She say the knowledge that the shooter is still at large has taken away their sense of safety, her entire family shares the trauma from that December night.
“My youngest son, he’s 11, he’s scared to get in the car,” she recalled. “He doesn’t want to get in the car…he’s scared to get in the car with his brother.”
In the months since, Alicia said she has reached out to multiple law enforcement agencies to learn more.
She says each time, she was told to look elsewhere for answers.
“I called Tacoma, they sent me to Washington State Patrol. Washington State Patrol sent me to Lakewood, Lakewood sent me back to Tacoma,” she said. “This morning, as I’m arriving here, I heard that it was at the Pierce County Sheriff's [Office], I called them in front of my attorney, on speaker, and they have no case either.”
Tacoma police say officers were called to respond at first since the shooting occurred within city limits, but the shooting happened along State Route 7, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Washington State Patrol.
The state patrol says it officially took over the case on Jan. 3 and attempted to contact the family.
The agency also says a detective has since reached out and re-established communication with Russell’s family.
Now Alicia is hoping that answers come soon.
“No matter what the world viewed him as, he was an amazing soul,” she says. “I’m my son’s voice because he no longer has one, so right now it’s my duty to make sure that Tacoma and everyone else knows my son’s name and knows that he gets a fair chance and a fair investigation.”
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