SEATTLE — Two Seattle Public Schools (SPS) students were shot and killed at a bus stop Friday afternoon.
The shooting occurred in front of the South Shore PreK-8 School and several blocks from Rainier Beach High School, which both victims attended, KOMO News reports. The shooting occurred just 30 minutes after both schools’ dismissals. When Seattle Police arrived on the scene, they found two young men suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers administered first aid before the Seattle Fire Department arrived. Both victims were pronounced deceased at the scene.
RELATED ARTICLE: School Shootings Decreased 30% Last Year
While no one has been arrested in connection to the killings, police say the shooting was targeted and that they do not believe there is an ongoing threat to the public. All activities at Rainier Beach High School, Alan T. Sugiyama High School, and South Shore PreK-8 were canceled for the remainder of the evening and throughout the weekend.
The district encourages anyone with information related to the shooting to contact the Seattle Police Department (SPD) tip line at 206-233-5000. Tips can be made anonymously.
Seattle Public Schools Delays Classes at Rainier Beach Schools
SPS announced it is working with SPD and city officials to “increase presence and patrols in the area” for the week. Four campuses in the Rainier Beach community will also have a delayed opening Monday in response to the shooting, according to The Seattle Times. South Shore PK-8 will have a two-hour delay “to allow time for staff wellness supports” and to prepare “to welcome students with care,” SPS wrote in a news release Sunday. Rainier Beach High, Sugiyama High, and Interagency Academy Southeast will start classes at 12:30 p.m.
All of the delays are to provide “wellness and stabilization supports for staff and preparation to welcome students,” the district said. Individual and group crisis counseling and mental health experts will also be at school sites to help students and staff.
Superintendent Ben Shuldiner, who began his term on Sunday, “has been clear that strengthening safety measures across the district is a top priority, and that work begins immediately,” the school district said.
Community Advocate Calls for Police Back in Seattle Public Schools
More than 100 people gathered at a vigil Saturday, including the victims’ mothers, to honor the teens and call for an end to violence in the city. King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans, City Councilmembers Eddie Lin and Dionne Foster, and then-SPS Superintendent Fred Podesta were also in attendance.
During the vigil, community advocate Victoria Beach called for the return of police in Seattle schools, suggesting it could prevent future violence, ABC 8 reports.
“We have to do whatever it takes to take them safe, I don’t care what it is,” she said.
RELATED ARTICLE: Seattle Students Rally for More School Mental Health Counselors, Gun Safety
The Seattle School Board voted in June 2020 to remove SPD officers from Seattle Public Schools amid nationwide protests over police violence following the murder of George Floyd. The board instead adopted an indefinite moratorium on the district’s School Resource Officer and School Emphasis Officer programs.
In October, the board also voted 5-2 to reject a proposal to place an SPD officer, known as a “School Engagement Officer,” at Garfield High School following the 2024 murder of student Amarr Murphy-Paine in the school’s parking lot. Murphy-Paine was attempting to break up a fight when he was shot and killed.
