Mobarak Adam Homicide Death, 15-year-old student’s death ruled Seattle’s first homicide of 2024
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Tuesday that the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy in West Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood last week was a homicide, making him Seattle’s first homicide victim of 2024.
The medical examiner identified Mobarak Adam on Thursday, two days after the fatal shooting, but at the time hadn’t determined his cause and manner of death. Adam died from a gunshot wound to the torso, according to the updated information.
A student at Chief Sealth International High School, Adam was fatally shot in the boy’s bathroom of the Southwest Teen Life Center, less than 500 feet west of the school on Southwest Thistle Street.
Police have released scant details about the fatal incident, saying only that they responded the afternoon of Jan. 23 to the teen center, where staffers were aiding someone with a gunshot wound. Officers took over aid until Seattle Fire Department medics arrived, but Adam died at the scene.
It doesn’t appear anyone has been arrested in connection with his death. A police spokesperson said he couldn’t immediately provide an update on the investigation.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the high school Monday for a lunchtime rally denouncing gun violence and calling for justice for Adam, whose family is Oromo, an ethnic group predominantly from central Ethiopia. The middle of nine children, Adam was remembered as a kindhearted jokester who enjoyed playing basketball and pranking his younger brothers.
Adam’s killing is the second homicide in less than a year with a connection to Chief Sealth. Ka-Don Brown, 20, was shot multiple times and collapsed in the driveway to the staff parking lot at the west end of campus in April. No one has been arrested in connection with his killing.
Brown was one of 69 homicide victims in Seattle last year, a record number last reached in 1994. There were 141 homicide victims in King County in 2023.
At this time last year, 13 homicides had been committed in King County, six of them in Seattle. Adam’s homicide is one of five committed in the county this month.
In the wake of this Mobarak Adam Homicide Death, we extend our deepest condolences to the families affected by this heart-wrenching loss. As they grapple with the indescribable pain of bidding farewell to their loved ones, we share in their sorrow and stand in solidarity during this time of profound grief.