SEATTLE — The mother of the 19-year-old killed last year at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone is speaking out after a Friday night shooting nearly claimed the life of the teen’s father.
This, just days before the anniversary of her son’s murder.
Four men were shot in what eyewitnesses describe as a shootout in White Center on Friday night. It turns out three of the victims were relatives of Lorenzo Anderson Junior, killed last year at the CHOP zone in Seattle.
“It’s actually been sad every day since,” said Donnitta Sinclair -Martin.
The man charged with killing the teen is still a fugitive. And now the teen’s father was nearly killed, too.
These are difficult days for Sinclair-Martin. On Sunday, she will mark a grim anniversary — the day last June her son was shot and killed at CHOP. Worse yet, Marcel Long, the 19-year-old charged with his murder is still on the run and has a $2 million arrest warrant.
“This is not OK,” she said. “This is not OK. And Mr. Long, there’s responsibility, and you’re going to have to be held accountable.”
Last Friday night, her son’s father, Horace Anderson, as well as Anderson’s brother and cousin, were shot outside a White Center restaurant. Anderson’s cousin and another man died. His brother is still in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center. We reached out to Anderson after he was treated and released.
“Here it is almost a year since my son passed,” he said, “and through the grace of God, I’m still sitting here. I got shot twice in the face. Really, it’s a miracle. It’s a blessing.”
Prominent activist Andre Taylor would say little about Friday night’s shooting.
“I just think it’s circumstances that stems from his son’s murder,” he said.
But he predicts a long, violent summer if the authorities don’t act.
“We need a gang summit,” said Taylor. “And we need community people that know some of the particular players to reach out to some of these individuals.”
Sinclair-Martin agrees.
“It has to stop,” she said. “It needs to stop.”
Sinclair-Martin is pleading with Long to turn himself in. Incredibly, she said she does not want him to face the same fate as her son. She wants him to live to face justice.
She hired former Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist, now in private practice, to sue the city of Seattle in her son’s death.