The array of life that unfolds at the junction of Rainier Avenue South and Henderson Street is vast: people swim and shoot hoops at the community center; dance at Northwest Tap Connection; lift weights and build cardio at Planet Fitness. People come through here to secure their next meal at the Rainier Valley Food Bank; to make a deposit at the local bank branch, pick out paint, pick up a wig, a used tire. Every so often, you’ll see someone charging their electric vehicle in a parking lot. When the weather cooperates, people play pickleball at a court nearby.
Most significantly, hundreds of young people pass through here, carving out their futures and dreaming. The intersection is home to South Shore PK-8 school. Next door sits Alan T. Sugiyama High School and a block west finds Rainier Beach High School.
On Friday, Jan. 30, shortly after school let out, two teenagers were at a bus stop when they were shot dead. Police responded just before 4:00 p.m. They said they searched the area but did not find the suspect, who fled the scene on foot. In a press conference, assistant chief Tyrone Davis said he believed it had been a targeted shooting.
As Friday afternoon turned into Friday evening, as investigators and a police dog scoured a cordoned off area along Henderson, the Rainier Beach community began to gather and grieve. Dozens of people filled the Bank of America parking lot, staring at the scene from behind police tape and hugging the people they knew. Folks brought bottles of water and boxes of tissue. A woman in scrubs stood in horror. She said she was a parent. Another woman said her son works out across the street. A third woman stood along a fence and emitted a wail too agonizing to describe.
Authorities have not released the names of the two teens but by Saturday the Rainier Beach High School community knew. Students, faculty, coaches and a slew of elected officials joined more than a hundred people gathered at a vigil Saturday afternoon. Chairs had been set up at the Rainier Beach Community Center plaza for a scheduled event but one by one, people put votive candles and bouquets of flowers below a tree next to the Henderson bus stop. Soon a community gathering took place there, taking over the sidewalk and eventually part of the street.
It was a moment to come together and heal, said Pastor Lawrence Willis of New Direction Missionary Baptist Church. One of the teens was a member of his church. It was important for the community to show up for “our children,” Willis told the crowd, and especially to remind all the young men that “if you need us, we’re here for you.”
The two teens were friends. One of them had just turned 18. Both families attended the vigil and spoke. One of the mothers said she had lost her own mother to violence. Now her baby is gone.
Lonnisha Landry understood the unspeakable heartache. She lost her 16-year-old son Xavier to gun violence in 2024. She said one of the teens gunned down on Friday had been at her son’s candlelight vigil. Now she was here, handing out balloons so people could write a message to the two teens.
By the vigil’s end, the tree was shrouded in blue, gold, and orange star-shaped balloons.
Seattle Public Schools has cancelled all activities at the three schools through Sunday.
Police are asking anyone with information to call the tip line at 206-233-5000.
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