On June 2nd at 12:30 am, a 17 year old high school boy who attended Franklin High School was shot at Martha Washington Park in South Seattle. He was exploring the park at night with four of his friends because they heard it was haunted and wanted to check it out. A drive by shooter pulled up and fired multiple shots at the boy. Police are not sure if it was a random shooting or if there were ties between the victim Ryan Dela Cruz and the unidentified perpetrator. The police are strongly suspecting it was not a targeted crime or gang related. They think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is heartbreakingly devastating how young he was when this happened. Ryan was on the verge of graduating from high school and was planning to live out his dreams by joining the Marine Corps soon after he graduated. His family said he was going out with his friends who were also planning on being Marines as a celebration for their futures. It was cut very short however, when those three shots rang out.

It is weird for me to hear about this because the park this all happened at was two blocks away from the home I grew up in. I would go to that park at least once a week every summer and play with my dog at the field, go swimming at the beaches, or have a picnic. I never knew that it was said to be haunted, so for me it had always been a happy place.

When I heard about this shooting it came as a big shock. The fact that a simple night outing with some friends could go so horribly wrong, in a place that always seemed safe to me, was appalling. It could have happened to anyone and that is what is so sad to me. That these days even just walking in a park at night could get you killed. That should not be a reality people have to live with, yet it is. This stuff happens all the time and people normalize it, but it should not be normal. People should not have to live with that kind of fear. Although there is not a clear cut response, responding with peace and resilience rather than anger and violence is the best way to combat it. Violence will only feed into the problem more instead of fixing it.

On a larger scale adding more accessible mental health programs and removing stigma around it would help immensely. People need to want to get help and know where to go to get that help, before it escalates further. This can not be done easily though; it is a huge process that will take work from lots of people in order to complete. It is definitely something people should begin advocating for and taking steps towards, but in the meantime it is important to acknowledge, grieve, reflect, and continue living after something tragic like this happens. What happened to Ryan that fateful night was absolutely horrible, and sadly happens to far to many kids around the nation. It is something that must not be accepted as normal and something that hopefully reminds us that life is a gift. Instead of being afraid of losing it, we should be excited for how we can use it.

On Friday June 8th South Seattle families and Franklin High School students are meeting at the MLK boulevard and Rainier Ave intersection at 11 am. People will be wearing orange ribbons and shirts to support anti-gun violence. It is open for all to come who want to support this cause and Dela Cruz’s life.

Here is the link to the flyer for the memorial http://franklinhs.seattleschools.org/about/calendar_and_news/news/__dream_for_the_dreamer