"We’re so grateful that on the day we’re supposed to be in the dark crying, we’re standing here … with the sun shining and the birds chirping,” Arron Murphy-Paine said into a megaphone in the parking lot outside Garfield High School.
It was June 6, 2025, one year to the day since Murphy-Paine’s son Amarr was shot and killed outside the school while trying to break up a fight at lunchtime.
Amarr’s family worked with student organizers to host the event to commemorate and process his tragic death and the deaths of two other Garfield students, and to discuss ways to avoid its repetition in the future. Hundreds of students, staff, community members and family attended.
Murphy-Paine described his son as a caring, loving soul: “If he loved you, you knew it.” He urged the crowd to channel that love as they grapple with violence in the school and the neighborhood.
“Hate doesn’t negate hate. It just brings more hate,” Murphy-Paine said. “The only thing that defeats hate is love. Love one another. Be kind and watch your community make the changes that it’s gonna take.”
Amarr was 17 when he was killed. Seattle police have not arrested any suspects for the crime. His family sued Seattle Public Schools in May alleging that Garfield’s open-campus lunch policy allowed a former student to come onto school property and shoot their son.
Last October, Garfield freshman Soloman Taylor was shot and killed in the Central District. In April, Salvador Granillo, a senior at the school, was shot and killed at a house party in Yakima. Friday’s memorial was meant to honor their lives as well and help students grapple with the compounding trauma of all that violence.
“Today is a reminder of the tragedies we have faced this past year,” said Colby Tran, a Garfield senior who helped organize the event. “It’s a reminder of the beautiful people we must carry with us because they’re no longer here. … Today signifies not only the toll gun violence has had on this community, but it also signifies persevering as Bulldogs.”
“This is what makes us who we are,” Tran continued. “Coming together to heal, to fight, to mourn, to love is the real Garfield experience.”
How best to address violence in and around Seattle schools is an open question. Students have lobbied the city and school district to invest more money in student mental health services and counseling.
Others are pushing for the district to bring back police officers assigned to the schools. Seattle Public Schools ended its “school resource officers” partnership with Seattle Police Department in the wake of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests.
Some at Friday’s memorial argued it shouldn’t be an either/or choice.
Amarr Murphy-Paine’s family is trying to build something positive out of their tragedy with the launch of The Amarr’s Heart Foundation. Arron Murphy-Paine said the family’s goal is to help implement more de-escalation training in the schools and provide a mentorship program for kids who want to avoid gang life.
Murphy-Paine said the foundation’s website is still under construction, but the family launched a GoFundMe to help get the work off the ground.
Scenes from the June 6, 2025 memorial for Amarr Murphy-Paine at Garfield High School (Jason Redmond for Cascade PBS)
The fight over funding student mental health has been roiling since the November 2022 fatal shooting of a student at Ingraham High School. In the wake of the killing, the City Council voted to direct $20 million to student mental health and gun violence prevention services.
Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed directing half that amount to mental health programs in the 2024 mid-year budget, arguing there wasn’t a clear plan for spending the full $20 million by year’s end. The City Council — two-thirds of whom were elected after the prior Council earmarked the $20 million — increased Harrell’s proposed number to $12.5 million but rejected an amendment to restore the full $20 million.
The push for more mental health and violence prevention efforts in schools has continued as the district considers bringing back school resource officers.
If adopted, a new agreement between Seattle Public Schools and SPD would result in an armed officer being stationed outside Garfield this fall. School Board President Gina Topp told The Seattle Times that she won’t commit to supporting the proposal until she sees all the details.
A small group of students attended a school board meeting last week to protest the potential return of armed officers to school property, arguing that money would be better spent on expanding services.
A survey of 481 Garfield students conducted by the district found that 42% of students are very comfortable with the idea of having an officer outside the school and 33% are somewhat comfortable. Another 32% said they would be very comfortable with an officer inside the school, with 29% somewhat comfortable with the idea.
However, in the survey, students flagged concerns with racial profiling, intimidation and a lack of transparency in the role.
Marc Jacobson, the father of one Garfield alum and of another currently in their senior year, was at Friday’s event to support the Murphy-Paine family. Jacobson is in favor of police officers at the school, but doesn’t think it needs to be an either/or debate between officers and services.
Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, who grew up in the Central District and now represents it as District 3’s elected leader, attended Friday’s memorial along with Councilmembers Maritza Rivera, Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Mark Solomon.
She also supports reinstating officers and said the debate shouldn’t be focused on the presence of police or no police. Instead, Hollingsworth said it’s a question of “Can we have a trusted adult in the school?”, which she said the former school resources officers had been.
The call for both more mental health services and a return of police officers comes at a time, however, when the city and Seattle Public Schools face deep budget deficits that could result in cuts to programming rather than expansions.
Though she supports school resource officers, Hollingsworth doesn’t think they would be a panacea. She sees more community building and engagement like Friday's event as part of the solution.
“It means everything to be in community, in connection with the students, to listen, to hear them, to talk with them and understand what their pain is and what they’re asking for,” Hollingsworth told Cascade PBS. “I think we need more of this as a community. This used to be stuff we did every day. We just don’t have this anymore and I think we need to have this more often where we actually connect with people.”
Sherrica Mccall, Amarr’s grieving mother, said she was moved by the community’s support Friday.
“I’m taking everything day by day, second by second, if need be,” Mccall told the crowd, breaking into tears. “I just wanted to say thank you for showing [Amarr] love and support. I love each and every one of you guys. I’m proud of each and every one of you guys.”
