Mayor's Gun Violence Liaison highlights need for community led solutions

Community members greeted kids on their way into Garfield High School in Seattle’s Central District, after Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and the organization 100 Black Parents organized a massive show of support.

Classes started up again Tuesday morning after a shooting on campus that claimed the life of 17-year old student, Amarr Murphy-Paine. 

The shooter, believed to be another high school aged boy, has not been found or identified by Seattle Police. 

Monday, a 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, among other charges, in the shooting death of a classmate at Ingraham High School in North Seattle in 2022. 

In the wake of that shooting, Seattle Public Schools and local elected leaders pledged to step up mental health support for students and improve safety on school campuses and in surrounding neighborhoods.

But nearby gun violence has since repeatedly shattered the peace at Garfield, putting the school on lockdown, and now another Seattle student has lost their life at school.  

So – what’s the answer? How do we protect kids at school –  the place where the LAST thing they should be worried about is dodging gunfire?

GUEST: DeVitta Briscoe, Gun Violence Prevention Liaison for the city of Seattle, and founder of the Black Women’s Coalition to End Violence.

LINKS:
KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/stories/gun-violence-prevention-advocate-starts-work-in-seattle-mayor-s-office 
South Seattle Emerald: https://southseattleemerald.com/tag/devitta-briscoe/ 
Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-lesson-from-my-losses-we-cannot-afford-to-completely-dismantle-the-police/