KUOW73%
2 years after shooting death, family works to build a more just and peaceful Seattle 19%
By Kim Malcolm39% John O'Brien36%
6/4/2026, 6:05:52 PM
Keywords: Amarr Murphy Paine, Shooting Death, Seattle, Garfield High School, Gun Violence, Justice, Family, Community
BS Summary: This article contains 29 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Optimism Bias, and Self-Serving Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 34.7% saturation with 323 hits. Analysis detected 1,781 faulty-reasoning hits from 930 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34% and a BS Rank of 19% (17,741 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 81.10% of the article peer group.
This week, many Seattleites are honoring the memory of Amarr Murphy-Paine.
Two years ago, the Garfield High School student was shot and killed while trying to break up a fight in a school parking lot.
No arrest has been made in the case.
KUOW’s Kim Malcolm spoke to Amarr’s father, Arron.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Kim Malcolm: For people who didn't know Amarr, what do you tell them about the person he was?
Arron Murphy-Paine: I tell them, believe what you see.
Believe and see the love that came out on his behalf since we lost him.
What you see is an example of the energy he put into the world.
He had a big heart.
He was definitely a very intelligent young man and driven.
He was a great spirit here on Earth, and his spirit is still living on strong.
That's who Amarr was.
Amarr was definitely a bright light.
There is an event in his honor at Garfield High School today.
Tell us about the Amarr's Heart Foundation event.
We teamed up with Just/Us Love Ones, Lonnisha Landry, the mother of Xavier Landry, who was killed the same year, a month and a half apart from Amarr.
They were actually good friends and knew each other.
We teamed up with his mother for a "Chalk and Talk" event today at Garfield.
We're inviting the community to come out, grab some chalk, write a favorable message on the concrete right there in front of the school, and also take the time to talk and engage with the youth and get to hear what some of their concerns are.
We’re just trying to connect the dots.
That's what Amarr's Heart Foundation and Just/Us Love Ones are trying to do today, connect the dots, between a problem and a solution.
The Seattle City Council this week declared June 6th to be Amarr Murphy-Paine Day.
You were there for the announcement, and you called it a kind of justice for you.
You also pointed to the fact that the person who killed your son has not been arrested and brought to justice.
You're calling on city leaders to do more to keep people safe.
What do you want them to do now?
I just want them to pay attention to what Amarr meant.
All these kids were somebody and could have made a change in our city.
Justice for me doesn't look like handcuffs and jail bars.
The person that did it, do they deserve that?
That's not even up for me to discuss.
But I will say that justice looks like us standing there on Tuesday receiving that award, because it gives us the power to take every other name that happens before Amarr and after Amarr and use our platform to lift up their names as well.
And we have to make sure that the importance of solving these murders comes to the forefront from a city level, a county level, and a state level.
They're talking about a decrease in murders in the first quarter, and some would applaud that, but I would say we should be shooting for zero murders.
That's what we need to be paying attention to.
Garfield will be hosting a Gun Violence Awareness Summit this week.
Do you think the community is doing enough to address gun violence?
Before Amarr, I wasn't even aware of Gun Violence Awareness Week or any of this.
It came to the forefront when we became the victims.
So, if we get everybody to open up their eyes and say, that could happen to any of our kids, then I feel like we can have a louder voice in decisions that are made.
That's what these re-engagements are for.
We're trying to connect the community back to its pride and its feelings for others.
We're trying to connect it back to its empathy for everybody around in the community.
A community is a village.
When one is lost, the whole village feels it.
We have disconnected from that.
Amarr’s Heart Foundation is doing that from the grassroots up.
Our motto is, “Saving the world one heartbeat at a time.”
That's what we're trying to do.
The loss of a child is probably the worst thing a parent can face, and there may be people listening to us right now who are in that same place with you.
Have you found anything that helps you?
Yes, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
That is what has helped me through all of this from day one.
Even when it happened, I wanted to not believe anymore, but the power of God would not allow that.
My faith was stronger than everything.
So, I would just commend anyone to higher power.
Whatever your faith is, hold tight to it through this time.
Have faith that you'll be seen through to the other side.
Do we still have bad days?
Yes, I will have bad days for the rest of my life because Amarr won't walk this earth again.
And I want to give a shout-out to Amarr's birth mother, Sherrica McCall.
I just wanted to make sure that she was also lifted in this interview, to make sure everybody knows that every step we take, we take them together.
Amarr was blessed with a three-parent household.
We just want to make sure that's out there and that she's lifted in this process, too.
Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.
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