Father of teen killed outside Garfield High School calls for justice
SEATTLE – The father of a high school student fatally shot outside Garfield High School Thursday is calling for justice for his son, as a full day has elapsed without Seattle police identifying his shooter.
Amarr Murphy, a running back for the school’s varsity football team, was attempting to break up a fight between two boys Thursday afternoon when one of the boys pulled out a gun and shot him multiple times in front of the Quincy Jones Performance Center, police said.
Murphy was rushed to Harborview Medical Center where he died from his injuries.
His father, Arron Murphy-Paine, said the city and the school district failed his son.
“I want justice, that is all I got to say,” Murphy-Paine said in a phone call Friday. “Get the justice for everybody that failed my son when I took my son to school and he got killed at lunch.”
Murphy-Paine said he did not want to comment further until he spoke with his attorney.
A Facebook fan page for the Garfield football program posted a tribute to Murphy on Friday with a picture of the teen in his football uniform.
Seattle police have released few details about their investigation and said there were no new updates to shared when asked Friday afternoon about their search for the shooter or what they have learned about his identity.
The shooter is believed to be a teenage boy who was wearing a red jacket, light blue jeans and white sneakers at the time, SPD Deputy Chief Eric Barden said Thursday. He fled before police and paramedics arrived and found Murphy on the ground.
The shooting prompted a nearly three-hour lockdown at Garfield, stranding some students outside who left campus for lunch and angering parents who have called on greater intervention to prevent gun violence at and near the school.
In March, a Garfield student was shot in the leg during a drive-by shooting while waiting for her bus outside the school, where students had to temporarily shelter-in-place. There was also a shooting outside the school in October and a string of nearby shootings last June that did not involve students but prompted increased security on campus.
Mayor Bruce Harrell said Thursday that he had directed the Seattle police to enhance patrols near Garfield, his alma mater.
Interim police Chief Sue Rahr also said Thursday that the department would “redouble” its efforts in the Central District to help students and families feel safe.
Murphy’s death fell one day before Friday’s National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
“Kids shouldn’t have to deal with this – it’s too much,” Jeff Scott said after reuniting with his daughter, a Garfield freshman, outside the school on Thursday. “I honestly don’t know what we do about it.”