West Seattle basketball player benches herself, sending message about gun violence
SEATTLE - Missing from Wednesday’s Chief Sealth girls varsity basketball game against Rainier Beach was number 24.
Senior star forward Fahima Mohamed made the decision to bench herself.
"The deaths of two peers that knew personally, has hit us all," said Mohamed. "For the past 11 months I have seen little to no change, no figuring out what happened."
To raise further awareness, she took herself out of the game right after teeing off.
She said she wanted to use her platform to help to amplify student voices.
"I really just thought about what the best solution for me would be and the most peaceful," she said. "What was the best way to honor them and honor all the lives that were lost to gun violence?"
In addition to her absence, she also planned a small speech that she delivered during halftime.
As FOX 13 has reported, a Chief Sealth International High School student died hours after a shooting in West Seattle on December 4. The teen has been identified as 15-year-old Sudaysi Ida.
Ida died 11 months after his classmate, Mobarak Adam, was shot and killed at a community center across the street from their school.
Ida, who died at Harborview Medical Center early Thursday, marks the seventh teenager killed by gunfire in Seattle this year. All of the victims were boys between the ages of 14 and 17. All of their cases remain unsolved.
Dozens rally for justice in west Seattle after gunshot kills 15-year-old student
A call for justice was heard loud and clear during a rally outside of Chief Sealth International High School in West Seattle on Monday as dozens of students joined the family of 15-year-old Mobarak Adam, who was shot inside a nearby community center on Jan. 23.
"We have to do something," said Mohamed. "This is part of a larger problem."
Chief Sealth Principal Ray Garcia-Morales called the student’s death a "heartbreaking loss" in an email to families last week.
15-year-old boy shot, killed in West Seattle
Seattle police are investigating after a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed in West Seattle.
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