SEATTLE — Seattle Police are looking for leads after a teenager was shot and killed in front of his home in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood on Sunday night.
A mother is just beginning to mourn the loss of her son.
“Whoever did this to my son – that baby needed a hug. That baby needed more love in their life,” said Alicia Dassa, the victim's mother.
Seattle Police don’t know who shot at the car 18-year-old Conner Dassa-Holland was in Sunday night. They’re asking for the community's help.
“We need to figure out how to make sure every kid in this community and every community is loved. That they get enough love,” Dassa said.
“One of the reasons we are here today is to make sure that his legacy is not marred,” said Chukundi Salisbury a family friend. “We are going to make sure that his name is not drug through the mud like this was some sort of gang-related shooting,” he continued.
At a time where large gatherings are discouraged, the death of the Rainier Beach teen drew such a crowd that police shut down 51st Ave. for blocks. Officers were not concerned with the size of the crowd but instead let the vigil take place.
“Conner would not want us to be silent, would not want us to be sad,” Dassa said.
Dassa-Holland was the captain of his football team, senior class president and had just recently committed to the University of Washington.
As police work to catch her son's killer, Dassa doesn’t want her pain to turn to anger or fear.
“I was never afraid in this neighborhood, never," Dassa said. "And I will not be afraid moving forward.”
If you have any information about the shooting that happened in Rainier Beach on Sunday night, call Seattle Police.