14-year-old boy shot to death in Rainier Valley; body reportedly lies on street overnight
Another case of South Seattle violence came to light in the local press this morning, with both the P.I. and The Times reporting on a 14-year-old gunned down on South Rose Street.
Police spokesman Mark Jamieson didn't specify when the victim - identified by family members as DéChé Morrison - was killed. But The Times offered evidence indicating neighbors in the area near where the body was discovered heard gunshots at around 9 p.m. Thursday evening. Morrison wasn't discovered until late yesterday afternoon...meaning that for almost 24 hours, he lay dead in the street.
The Times also reports that the victim was a former student at Cleveland High School, who enrolled as a freshman early in the 2007-2008 academic year but dropped out in November. That's the same school where Allen Joplin, the 17-year-old shot to death at a party on Elliott Avenue West last Friday, once played basketball.
Joplin was reportedly associated with the Deuce Eight street gang, which operates around 28th & Jackson - a charge that memorial postings on MySpace seem to support but is denied by family members. No word yet on whether Morrison had any gang ties, or whether the deaths were related.
From the P.I.:
Police spokesman Mark Jamieson didn't specify when the victim - identified by family members as DéChé Morrison - was killed. But The Times offered evidence indicating neighbors in the area near where the body was discovered heard gunshots at around 9 p.m. Thursday evening. Morrison wasn't discovered until late yesterday afternoon...meaning that for almost 24 hours, he lay dead in the street.
The Times also reports that the victim was a former student at Cleveland High School, who enrolled as a freshman early in the 2007-2008 academic year but dropped out in November. That's the same school where Allen Joplin, the 17-year-old shot to death at a party on Elliott Avenue West last Friday, once played basketball.
Joplin was reportedly associated with the Deuce Eight street gang, which operates around 28th & Jackson - a charge that memorial postings on MySpace seem to support but is denied by family members. No word yet on whether Morrison had any gang ties, or whether the deaths were related.
From the P.I.:
Gordon Scott, the victim's father who spoke with his son Thursday night, told KOMO/4 that Morrison had some minor scuffles with friends at school but was doing better recently. "I had to tell him, you know, bullets don't have a name on them," he said. "My son just picked the wrong friends to have around."And because of it, this young man - not even old enough to drive a car or buy cigarettes - is dead.
