(Images: Converge Media)

UPDATE — VIGIL: Tears, anger, and questions swirled through Garfield High School’s sports field Friday night as loved ones, friends, and the communities around the Central District school gathered to remember Amarr and call for more to be done to protect the city’s young people. “Who is protecting our babies?,” one sign read atop a pile of flowers that has grown on the steps of the school just steps from where the 17-year-old was gunned down. Friday on the school’s sports field, there were also calls for justice as the victim’s family awaits an arrest in the deadly shooting. “These kids are getting big now and they’re getting taller than us. But they are still kids. They are still learning who they are,” said Dr. James E. Sears III of Grace Temple where Amarr attended church. “These kids need our support. It doesn’t matter if they didn’t come from your house.” “We’re tired of this and the change has to start now,” Sears said. The victim’s mother concluded the vigil by sharing a song she said she sang to her son to bring him comfort and joy. “Amarr, Amarr, you are a star,” it began. Thank you to Omari Salisbury and Converge Media for sharing these images of the gathering with CHS. (Images: Converge Media)

pic.twitter.com/4SDYjywJcP

— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) June 8, 2024

A photo of Amarr being shared by friends and family

The student shot and killed at Garfield High School Thursday has been identified as Amarr Murphy-Paine.

The 17-year-old was gunned down during the school’s Thursday lunch break in the parking lot in front of the Quincy Jones Performance Center as police say he was attempting to break up a fight.

Police have not announced any arrests in the case that has renewed concerns about gun violence around the 23rd Ave high school, the main public high school for the Central District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods.

Murphy-Paine, who was in his junior year at Garfield, is remembered as a member of the school’s football team and an aspiring hip hop artist. “Amarr was not just a football player; he was a shining light in our community. His spirit, heart, and emerging leadership were evident to all who knew him,” Tiffany Bigham of the Garfield High School athletics administration said in a letter to families. “He had a love of game but more so for the friendships it brought into his life. His teammates and coaches were instrumental in being the positive, guiding force that gave him so much hope.”

No benefits or fundraisers have yet been publicly announced to help support the victim’s family. The Garfield Parent Teacher Student Association group says it is working to find out ways to support the family.

As one family suffered a great loss, other families were wondering if it will be safe to send kids back to Garfield. Meanwhile, the school’s prom scheduled for the weekend will go on.

The shooting has also put new attention on the city’s policing and ongoing struggles with gun violence.

Mayor Bruce Harrell and newly installed interim SPD Chief Sue Rahr said Thursday following the shooting that police were limited in their ability to question student witnesses and asked any adults with information to call the SPD tip line at 206-233-5000.

“My heart breaks for the family of the young man shot and killed yesterday in the parking lot of Garfield High School. This tragic, senseless act of violence at one time ended a life and tore a family apart,” Joy Hollingsworth, the District 3 representative on the Seattle City Council, said in a statement. “We are uplifting his family and the entire Garfield community in positive prayer and love.”

“This is devastating for our community, and it cannot keep happening,” Hollingsworth went on to say. “Public safety and youth are my top priorities. We must do a better job of protecting our kids at school, in the home, and everywhere else they go.”

Rahr said Thursday that patrols will be increased in the area of the shooting.

In his remarks Thursday, Harrell blamed the “surge” of guns that is putting too many firearms on his streets while also promising that increased patrols will not mean over-policing.

“Until we address the basic fact that there are too many guns on our streets, and it is too easy to get access to a gun, we will never make sustainable progress on this issue,” Harrell said in a statement issued by his office.

In March following the fatal shooting of a woman behind the 23rd Ave AutoZone, Harrell called for a state ballot initiative to give the city more leeway to regulate gun ownership.

There are other avenues to pursue. A report by gun safety group Everytown showed that the largest single source of stolen guns in the United States is car break-ins.

At Garfield, there will be no school on Friday or Monday, Principal Tarance Hart announced. Hart said students could access confidential support services and meal services at the Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA, 1700 23rd Ave, both days.

Parents at the school have started a petition calling on the city to move on seven key initiatives identified by Hart during the school’s struggles with gun violence last spring:

1) immediately convene a student-centered process to listen to students who have been asking for what they need and want to feel and be safe going to school.

2) immediate trauma response support through the rest of the 2024 school year (through city-resources in addition to cash-strapped SPS) and increasing mental health/trauma support in the schools for ongoing not just occasionally resourcing after tragic events.

3) fund restorative justice training;

4) fund for additional community/family support roles at schools;

5) increase police resourcing — noting need for immediate presence during rest of school year — and ongoing with high schools especially focused on youth mentorship and youth services and include CARE team from 9-1-1 who sends out MHPs with police response;

6) resource and support working more closely with Community Passageways and other community-based organizations; and

7) fast-track work across all City departments, along with King County, state elected officials and our congressional delegation to pool and align resources for solutions faster and for all city schools.

A year ago, CHS reported on multiple gun violence incidents around the school and efforts by city leaders including then-SPD Chief Adrian Diaz to make the campus safer. Last year’s discussions included bolstering the number of police around campus and providing community and after school resources for teens as well as resources to help organize volunteer safety walks around the school.

Last year, Seattle Public Schools said it had moved to address safety concerns raised by gun violence at and around its schools as district Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones formed a new “community action team” consisting of safety, civic leaders, and community action groups to evaluate data and assess the experiences at schools and surrounding communities. The team comprised SPS school leaders, Seattle Police Department, City of Seattle, and community groups and partners that provide enrichment opportunities before and after school.

The district said it was also conducting safety reviews of every campus.

A year later, Garfield has again suffered multiple shooting incidents. In April, a shooter reported firing from an SUV sunroof opened fire on another vehicle as students unloaded from a nearby Metro bus and ran for cover on the nearby campus. There were no injuries.

Seattle leaders held a series of public safety meetings in March amid a continuing surge in gun violence including an afternoon shootout between two vehicles that month that sent a 17-year-old Garfield student caught in the crossfire to the hospital with serious injuries to her leg.

This time, police have Garfield school security video showing Thursday’s deadly altercation and say they are working to identify the teen who pulled the trigger.

CORRECTION: When first published, this article erroneously reported the victim’s year in school. Murphy-Paine was in his junior year at Garfield.

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