SEATTLE — Students returned to Washington Middle School Friday morning after one of their classmates was hit and killed by a runaway vehicle Thursday afternoon.
A GoFundMe has been started to support the girl’s family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/erut33-community-support-for-grieving-family
Parents and students were making their way to the school around 8:30 a.m. Friday, less than 24 hours after the tragic death of a 6th grader. Early this morning, when KIRO 7′s crew was on the scene, someone had already left flowers and a teddy bear in memory of the 12-year-old who was killed. That memorial grew as parents, students, and staff added flowers and mementos for the 6th grader near the intersection of Weller Street and 20th Place South.
Jasmine Grazette arrived at the school, dropping her son off for the school day. She admitted that coming back was hard, “A little bit overwhelmed, just thinking about someone’s daughter.”
Grazette was one of many parents who brought their children to Washington Middle School this morning, knowing her son would have to deal with a tough day at school, especially after what he saw Thursday, “Not knowing what to do, he wanted to help and couldn’t help... he saw it happen and was just really flabbergasted. It’s shocking.”
She hopes the tragic death creates new safeguards. The incident happened just after 12:30 p.m. when the 12-year-old was reportedly heading to recess. She was hit by a vehicle that officials with the Seattle Police Department say rolled backward after it was not fully put into park.
“I just wanted to see the place where it happened,” said Abdo Banata, another parent who has a daughter at the school. He came this morning and saw students building a memorial, but his daughter was not one of them.
“Yeah, she couldn’t handle it, she’s not in her(victim’s) class but she knows her. She wanted to stay home… it’s bad… it’s very hard. She couldn’t sleep,” said Banata.
“I was a 7th grader right here,” said Carl Copeland, who says he lives across the street from the middle school he attended when he was growing up in Seattle.
Copeland came out early to see where the tragedy happened as well. He was out in front of the school with parents Thursday as they picked up their kids after the tragedy. For him, this incident was personal in a different way.
“Walked over, found out what happened. My youngest child was hit a year ago by SPU,” said Copeland. He says his now-adult child was hit in a crosswalk near Seattle Pacific University within the last year.
While he doesn’t have any children attending the middle school currently, he said he sees these children and parents almost every day during the school year. He said he feels a connection to this tragic event, “It kind of rekindled all the feelings... this is a tough one here.”
A steady stream of students gripping flowers and more made their way to the area where the 12-year-old was killed dealing with unimaginable loss and pain. A pain that parents know will follow them home. Grazette said what most parents are feeling right now, “I have a 12-year-old, it’s devastating to think you’re 12-year-old dropping them off and not being able to pick them up.”
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