Garfield High student remembered as lovable kid, resilient teammate (2024)

Amarr Murphy-Paine, the 17-year-old shot and killed last week outside Garfield High School, was described as a resilient football player, an aspiring rapper, a lovable kid, someone who was still finding his voice.

Reggie Witherspoon Jr., the former head football coach at Garfield, said he coached Murphy-Paine for three years at the school and had known him since the boy was 11 and played youth ball with his own son.

“He is an outstanding kid with a big heart to please those around him that he genuinely cares about. I saw that as a mentor and I saw that amongst his peers as well,” Witherspoon Jr. said, recalling Murphy-Paine as “a lovable kid, always smiling.”

Murphy-Paine played linebacker and defensive end and had made the varsity squad, Witherspoon Jr. said, showing resilience as he worked his way back from a season-ending injury as a freshman to play all of last season.

“When he came back, he told me, he said ‘I am going to do everything to earn my spot back on varsity.’ He earned it,” Witherspoon Jr. said.

Murphy-Paine died Thursday during lunchtime after being shot several times in the Garfield High parking lot by another boy, who ran away, according to police. The 17-year-old was reportedly trying to break up a fight.

“That’s Amarr. He is a peacemaker,” Witherspoon Jr. said.

Murphy-Paine was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died. As of Sunday afternoon, the suspect in the shooting had not been captured or publicly identified by authorities.

Classes at Garfield High School were canceled for Friday and Monday. Services, including drop-in counseling and sack meals, will be available to students on Monday at the Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA, at 1700 23rd Ave.

Over the weekend, a memorial to Murphy-Paine grew on the steps outside Garfield High School, with a steady stream of mourners stopping by to place fresh flowers and relight candles. Handwritten signs placed amid the flowers pleaded: “Who is protecting our babies???” “Protect our Bulldogs!” and “STOP Gun Violence Now!”

Tiffany Bigham, Garfield’s athletic director, grew emotional while visiting the memorial site on Saturday.

“He was extremely happy, he was in a really good mood, leading up to that he had just struggled to find his voice,” Bigham said about Murphy-Paine. “Who do I want to be? Who am I? … We were doing spring ball and he was just so excited about it.”

Besides hitting the weight room for football, Murphy-Paine loved spending time recording tracks as an aspiring rapper. Some of his music was posted online under the artist name Babyyanks.

Bigham said Murphy-Paine was “so excited” about an album he planned to release.

“He was telling other teachers here in the building about it. I thought, ‘This is a young man who is really starting to come into his own,'” she said.

Murphy-Paine’s death came after other shootings at the school in recent months, leading community members to call for safety measures.

In March, a Garfield student was shot in the leg during a drive-by shootingwhile waiting for her bus outside the school, where students had to temporarily shelter in place.There was alsoa shooting outside the school in Octoberand astring of nearby shootingslast June that did not involve students but prompted increased security on campus.

Some people want to bring back school resource officers, while others, including board members of the Seattle Student Union, denounced the idea of police in schools.

The district is also exploring adding outside security around campus. In the short term, students will find a bigger Seattle Police Department presence around the school’s perimeter when they return Tuesday.

“I hope the school district really puts some sort of infrastructure in place that makes sense for the safety of the kids. But they need to ask kids what they want,” Witherspoon Jr. said.

“Our kids need to be cared for and protected at all costs,” he added.

Seattle Times staff photographer Ivy Ceballo contributed to this story, which includes material from The Seattle Times archives. Note: An initial version of this story was updated to include Amarr Murphy-Paine’s full name.