Family pleads for justice for 17-year-old student killed in drive-by on Beacon Hill
SEATTLE -- It’s been more than a month since a Cleveland High School student was gunned down in broad daylight on Beacon Hill.
Seventeen-year-old Robert Robinson Jr.'s family believes that someone out there knows where to find his killer.
“Sometimes I just don’t like talking about him,” Patricia Robinson, Robert’s sister, said Thursday. “It gets emotional, it’s like I’m not going to see you until it’s my time to go.”
Patricia misses her little brother. Someone gunned him down in a drive-by shooting on a March Sunday afternoon.
“To see my own family go through this, you know my mom and my dad, you know it’s just sad,” she said. “ Nobody would have thought it would have been us out of all people.”
It’s been nearly six weeks since the shooting. Seattle police said their investigation is still open and active but they have yet to make any arrests.
In March, hundreds of Robert’s friends and classmates placed flowers and candles where he was gunned down. Patricia is frustrated that Robert’s killer still walks free.
“What did he actually do for you to take his life?” she asked. “I just want to know why.”
While the Seattle Police Department's homicide and gang-unit detectives work the case, Patricia said her brother wasn’t a member of a gang. She said Robert loved his friends, his music and looked forward to graduating next month.
“I really want my brother’s story to be heard,” she said. “I’m not just going to let it be known as, Robert Robinson killed, gang related. No!”
Patricia worries that nobody is safe as long as Robert’s killer still roams the streets.
“I’m scared that if I walk down the street I might die,” she said. “You never know.”
Police said the shooter fled the scene in a blue or green Honda sedan. Investigators are still looking for help. If you have any information in the shooting, call the Seattle Police Department.