Police: Skyway shooting victim was 12-year-old boy
SKYWAY, Wash. -- Sheriff's deputies say the person shot dead Thursday evening in the Skyway neighborhood south of Seattle was a 12-year-old boy.
The King County Medical Examiner's office identified the boy as Alajawan S. Brown.
Medics rushed to a 7-Eleven store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at about 6 p.m. and tried to resuscitate the boy, but he died at the scene.
King County Sheriff spokesman John Urquhart said the boy was shot during an altercation at the nearby Cedar Village Apartments and ran to the store where he collapsed.
Another man who was wounded in the shooting was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
Investigators are still trying to determine exactly why Brown was in the area, but Urquhart said it does not appear he was involved in the altercation. Family members said the boy had just bought a new pair of cleats at a store, and was headed home when he got caught in the crossfire.
"His father allowed him to go and get some things for football, and we don't know what happened in between that," said Willie Ford, the victim's aunt.
Brown lives in Skyway, but not at the apartment complex.
"Alajawan - that's my baby. I changed his diapers, everything," said sister Louketra Brown. "And I knew there was a boy that got shot, but I had no idea that was my brother."
No arrests have been made, and Urquhart said the investigation has been hampered by witnesses who are reluctant to speak with detectives. No suspect information was available.
"And I just want to say, whoever did it, I hope you feel so crappy inside, because you took my brother's life. Twelve years old," said Louketra Brown.
The King County Medical Examiner's office identified the boy as Alajawan S. Brown.
Medics rushed to a 7-Eleven store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at about 6 p.m. and tried to resuscitate the boy, but he died at the scene.
King County Sheriff spokesman John Urquhart said the boy was shot during an altercation at the nearby Cedar Village Apartments and ran to the store where he collapsed.
Another man who was wounded in the shooting was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
Investigators are still trying to determine exactly why Brown was in the area, but Urquhart said it does not appear he was involved in the altercation. Family members said the boy had just bought a new pair of cleats at a store, and was headed home when he got caught in the crossfire.
"His father allowed him to go and get some things for football, and we don't know what happened in between that," said Willie Ford, the victim's aunt.
Brown lives in Skyway, but not at the apartment complex.
"Alajawan - that's my baby. I changed his diapers, everything," said sister Louketra Brown. "And I knew there was a boy that got shot, but I had no idea that was my brother."
No arrests have been made, and Urquhart said the investigation has been hampered by witnesses who are reluctant to speak with detectives. No suspect information was available.
"And I just want to say, whoever did it, I hope you feel so crappy inside, because you took my brother's life. Twelve years old," said Louketra Brown.