A FILIPINO American teen was shot and killed when he answered the door of his Seattle home last week.
According to police, officers were dispatched to a home in the 9200 block of Waters Avenue South in the Rainier Beach area just before 11 p.m. on Friday, April 23, after someone reported a shooting.
Witnesses recounted that the gunman knocked on the home’s front door, and when the victim, identified as 16-year-old Earl Estrella, opened the door, he was shot several times. The suspect reportedly fled afterward, according to the Associated Press.
Police said responding officers tried lifesaving measures but Estrella was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, the teen died from a gunshot wound to the head.
For his part, Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said the shooting remains under investigation, asking anyone with information to call the department’s violent crimes tip line.
“This is the second juvenile that’s been shot in the last month, and we’re just trying to figure out ways to stop this violence,” Diaz said in a video posted to the department’s Twitter page.
Chief @adrianzdiaz briefing on #RainierBeach homicide: pic.twitter.com/GITnOyUYGI
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) April 24, 2021
“So we’re asking the community to find, you know, any which way that we can make sure that we put these shootings to rest — and be able to also figure out who did the shootings as well,” he added.
Estrella’s aunt and godmother, Daisy Rivera Ganal, set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with the funeral expenses. As of this writing, the page has received over $35,000.
“For those of you who knew and loved Earl, this news is absolutely devastating as he was only 16 years old and was a kind and sweet person. He loved his family, especially his siblings, Ryan, Jlord, MJ, and Kayla,” she wrote on the page.
Anyone in the community with information on the incident is urged to call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206-233-5000. (AJPress)
