SEATTLE — Dozens of students and parents gathered outside of Garfield High School on Friday morning to call for immediate change to address gun violence -- less than 24 hours after a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in the parking lot.
The shooting is one of multiple that have taken place outside Garfield this year, including a shootout between two cars near the school’s campus in April and a drive-by shooting that injured a 17-year-old girl in March.
A memorial for the teen who was killed on Friday has sprouted on the steps in front of the school. One vase bearing a note that read, “We are failing our children.”
Eleonore Mali is a Garfield parent who helped organize Friday’s event. She has two students at the school, one a senior and one in the ninth grade. She brought a cardboard sign with her reading, “Stop gun violence now!”
“(My children are) not doing good, unfortunately,” Mali said. “It’s been almost like part of their life the whole time here, the gun violence, so, sadly, they’re used to it, in a sense.”
Seattle police reported that they were investigating a shooting on the 400 block of 23rd Avenue at around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. There was an altercation between students that the victim was trying to break up when the suspect shot him in the chest, according to Seattle Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Barden.
The teen was taken to Harborview Medical Center where he died, despite life-saving efforts.
Police believe a high school-aged male suspect fled the school after the shooting. He has not been found.
“The first thing I had in mind was the family that got impacted,” Mali said. “They lost a child yesterday. We all lost a child yesterday.”
Alyssa Marsh is the parent of an eighth-grade Washington Middle School student who is assigned to attend Garfield High School next year. She said she isn’t sure if that will happen. The gun violence outside of the school has scared him, and he doesn’t want to go. They’re currently on waiting lists for him to attend a different high school in the district.
“He’s terrified and I’m terrified,” Marsh said. “It feels that these events happen and change doesn’t and we’ve just – I need to come out here and shout, ‘Somebody protect our kids.’”
Marsh said she worries about what the lasting impact of gun violence in the neighborhood will have on her son’s overall wellbeing.
“He’s like, ‘I’m OK, I’m safe, I’ll be fine,’ but really, the long-term trauma is something he couldn’t even fathom yet. He’s fine today, but what about tomorrow? Or the next day?”
Those who spoke at Friday’s event said it was common knowledge among students that some of their peers carry guns at school.
Students and parents echoed sentiments that the response by Seattle Public Schools, the Seattle Police Department and even on the city and state level does not match the magnitude of the issue, saying they have only seen short-term, piecemeal solutions after each incident, instead of work toward a longer-term solution to address gun violence in the neighborhood.
“There’s millions of things to blame (for the gun violence),” Marsh said. “But I think they really need to pay attention to the Central District.”
“In this particular situation, in this particular circumstance, they’re not paying attention and children are dying or being shot at, all the time,” she continued.
Community members engaged in a discussion about what would make sense to keep Garfield students safe while longer-term solutions to gun violence are being worked out at the district and city level, including metal detectors and increased police presence at the school – stop gaps that many acknowledged are not ideal, but could make sense to decrease the likelihood of another shooting.
“It's a tough one for me because we have lost some trust in the police around here,” Marsh said. “But at the same time if there's trusted, skilled, trained officers that can come in here and be a resource and safety for the kids, I think I would be willing to listen to that, but I also know this community has tons of resources and mutual aid, so I'd love to see somebody in here directly responding to the violence and being here to protect, without intimidating our children.”
Parents who attended Friday’s event said they weren’t exactly sure what a permanent solution is, but they wanted to come out to show the city and the district that something needs to be done.
“We are demanding change, a stop to (the shootings,)” Mali said. “Until kids are safe, I’ll keep marching with my little cardboard sign.”