BIRTH: July 8, 1997
DEATH: April 29, 2010
Alajawan Shakur Brown ~ Age 12
Alajawan, 12, was mowing yards in the neighborhood and doing other odd jobs so that he could pay the registration fee to play football. Alajawan had just gotten off a bus and was walking home, returning from buying new football cleats, when he was caught in gunfire that killed him.
The shooting started because of a fight between a 27 year old man and the shooter. Alajawan was killed in the crossfire, and the 27 year old man and others were wounded. Alajawan was shot in the back, and killed just minutes after a violent argument involving two armed groups of people at the nearby Cedar Village Apartments. There were at least 20 shots fired during the altercation.
Investigators with the King County Sheriff’s Office thought that Alajawan was shot by a stray bullet. However, it was discovered later that the killer shot Alajawan, who was large for his age, because he thought he was involved in the shootout at the apartment complex in which another man was also was shot.
“He was literally in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ayanna Brown said of her son. Had Alajawan been facing the murderer, she said, the man charged with her son’s death “would have been able to see that he wasn’t the person he thought he was.”
UPDATE:
Curtis Walker, on February 2, 2012, was found guilty of first degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He’s facing 39 to 50 years for the brutal and senseless murder of Alajawan.
Skyway shooting victim was 12-year-old boy
12 Year Old Alajawan Brown Killed In Skyway Area Of Seattle
Shooting death of 12-year-old Skyway boy ruled a homicide
The life of slain 12-year-old Alajawan Brown celebrated at Renton church
More than 100 mourners remember Alajawan Brown at prayer vigil in Skyway
Prosecutor: 12-year-old killed for being young and black
Parents of 12-year-old shooting victim look back, say thanks
Stolen Lives 