By Steve Pomper
Alderwood Mall, Lynnwood, Washington, where 13-year-old girl bystander was shot and killed on July 3rd.
Violent crime shatters the tranquility of any community. It’s distressing but also natural. But violence hits especially hard when it’s close to home, and even harder when the victims are children. But these days, added to these crimes is the way some parts of the criminal justice system treat the aftermath (charges, bail, prosecution), often leaving the community and victim’s family behind in seeming deference to the suspects.
A few months back, I wrote about a suspect allegedly striking and killing a Washington state trooper on a freeway while drunk and driving recklessly. That happened about 20 miles from my house. Like I said, close to home.
But, a day before Independence Day, only three miles from my house, at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, Washington, a typical suburban American mall, two groups of young males got into a dispute. After a male in one group reportedly punched by a 16-year-old male in the other group, later identified as Samuel Gizaw, he allegedly pulled a gun and fired at the male who’d struck him.
According to a report by Sara Jean Green in The Seattle Times, she describes the inciting incident. “A 16-year-old Mukilteo boy who was punched in the face by another teen at Lynnwood’s Alderwood mall last week ‘severely escalated the situation’ by pulling out a gun, chasing after his assailant and firing a shot that ended up killing a 13-year-old girl, Snohomish County prosecutors say.”
A young thug allegedly shot a 13-year-old girl who was enjoying an outing at the mall with a friend. Something my family and I have done at that mall more times than I can count. The shooting occurred at 6 p.m. on a sunny summer evening.
Even closer to home, as The Lynnwood Times reported, Jayda Woods-Johnson was an eighth-grader at a school that borders my property. It’s the middle school my three kids attended. Though, all such crimes are monstrous, their impacts seem to increase with proximity.
Like other Americans watching as crime increases across the land, knowing that my daughter and her children live about a mile from that mall, I can’t help but wonder about the what ifs….” What if my 11-year-old grandson had been where the victim was when that unthinking hoodlum decided to pull a gun and fire it at a person in a crowded food court.
I can’t help but think it could have been my 11-year-old grandson, 9-year-old granddaughter, or 6-year-old grandson. Incidentally, The Seattle Times also reported Jayda was walking with her 11-year-old friend when she was shot.
However, while Jayda’s poor family is dealing with their incomprehensible grief, the only thing they have left to hold onto are their memories—and a hope for justice. Justice may seem poor consolation—it won’t bring Jayda back, but it’s not nothing. If the system achieves justice, it’s supposed to deter people from causing other parents to mourn the losses of their children.
But, these days, too often, justice is elusive in some parts of America. In fact, in this instance, the suspect’s bail was initially set at $500K bail, which was posted, and Gizaw was released within 24-hours of the incident.
Credit where credit is due, though. The Gizaw’s mother turned her son in to the police within hours of the shooting. However, where credit isn’t due is with a judge releasing a murder suspect on bail less than 24 hours after the shooting. The suspect was home with his loved ones while a 13-year-old girl will never be home with her family ever again.
What does that tell the victim’s family and the community—and the criminals?
On Facebook, Jayda’s mother, posted, “I’ve always seen these videos of people who lost their babies and never imagined I’d once be on that side of TikTok or in real life…I just want her name to not be forgotten and for the person that did this to pay … my daughter deserves justice.”
Yes. She does.
Johnson added this heartbreaking note, “‘[the suspect’s] mom gets to see her son smell her son, talk to her son…we get to come home to a silent house and lay in her bed to smell what we can on her bedding and clothes,’ Jayda’s mother, Tabatha Johnson wrote on Facebook page. ‘I’m terrified the scent will drift away and I will forget what she smells like…she always smelled so good.’”
Gizaw, of neighboring Edmonds, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder as an adult. Prosecutors say they also charged Gizaw with juvenile in possession of a firearm and first-degree assault for firing at a 17-year-old boy—missing him but not missing.
The Lynnwood police officers did their jobs, responding quickly to ensure no further people were injured, and later booking the suspect into jail for murder. Snohomish County Fire & Rescue (my wife’s old department) firefighter/EMTs and medics did their jobs, also responding quickly, doing their part, attempting to save the gravely wounded teen. The hospital ER staff in Everett did their jobs, also desperately attempting to save that little girl’s life.
Yes, they all did their jobs, but did whoever had the responsibility to keep this danger to the community behind bars do his or her job? A $500K bail seems high, but we’re talking about the murder of a child—in a crowded public place. Should there even have been a bail—especially so quickly? If so, should it at least have been higher?
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The Lynnwood Times, about the original bail, also reported Johnson posted, “This is completely unreasonable and an example as to why this continues to occur too often in our country, our justice system isn’t taking a strong enough stand against those who are committing these senseless acts of violence.”
She’s not alone. Remember that trooper I mentioned up top? The suspect’s bail had initially been set at $1million. But a judge (in this same county) reduced the bail to $100,000, which allowed the suspect to get out on bail. So, forgive me if I’m cynical.
Fortunately, according to KOMO 4 News, a judge finally agreed the bail should be much higher. “Judge Marybeth Dingledy granted the request of the Snohomish County prosecuting attorney to increase Gizaw’s bail from $500,000 to $2 million.” Gizaw is back in custody.
This is a positive development, but it shouldn’t take public pressure to do the right thing in the first place, right?
We should also note that with all the woke talk about taking cops out of schools, it was a school resource officer who identified the suspect’s photo from a mall surveillance footage photo released by the Lynnwood Police Department.
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