‘A true family man’: Loved ones speak out after Belltown murder

SEATTTLE — We are now learning the identities of some of the victims killed in the chaos of gun violence over the weekend. Families mourning are speaking out and said they want to see change.

One of the victims killed is a 26-year-old man from Seattle. His family identifies him as Lio — or Ilalio Ika Ngauamo.

Police said it started with a fight at a bar in Belltown called Ohana. The fight spilled into the parking lot across the street and escalated when someone pulled out a gun.

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Teeyah Ngauamo heard about the shooting in Belltown on Sunday morning and had a hard time believing the person killed there was her close cousin.

“I was like, ‘No, it can’t be Lio. This is crazy,’” Ngauamo said. “My heart breaks,” she said.

She said Ilalio Ika Ngauamo was the father of a young daughter. The victim’s family said they want you to know who the community lost.

“A true family man. He was the true definition of brotherhood. He was very overprotective with his siblings, close family members. He’s always fun. He’s a jokester. He loves to clown,” Teeyah Ngauamo said.

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Seattle police said it started at 1:48 a.m. with a fight inside the Ohana club. Court documents indicated the fight, which also involved Ilalio Ika Ngauamo, spilled outside into a parking lot across the street. Officers responded and were clearing the scene when things escalated, and officers heard shots in the alley.

“There was a bunch of gunfire going off,” said Damon Huseman, who lives nearby. “We hit the ground, and me and my fiancé went to the closet to not get hit by gunfire,” he said.

Someone shot Ngauamo. He did not survive.

Police arrested a suspect, 25-year-old Isaiah Junior Tulasaga.

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Court documents indicated Tulasaga “insisted” to detectives that “he fired in the direction of (Lio) to scare him and wanted to ‘whiz one by him.’”

Some people in the neighborhood said they agree with Seattle’s police chief. The city needs its officers back.

“Nothing we can do about it. Just going to be what it is until we get more cops in the street,” said Tenney Rensvold, who works in the neighborhood.

Mourning family members said they don’t know what the answer is but want to see changes so that fewer families have to experience the pain they’re going through.

“That smile I’ll never forget,” Teeyah Ngauamo said. “If there could be a change in some kind of way to make things better or to make whatever is happening nowadays less, it would really help a lot,” she said.

The suspect, Tulasaga, is currently being held in jail on a $2 million bail for probable cause of second-degree murder.

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