SEATTLE — A teenager who was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on Beacon Hill Sunday afternoon was set to graduate from Cleveland High School in a few months.
The King County Medical Examiner identifies the victim as 17-year-old Robert Robinson Jr.
Students are still trying to process what happened. Many of them heard about the shooting for the first time when they arrived on campus Monday morning.
But many already knew about it though social media, something the school district is struggling with.
"Last night, I was scrolling through Facebook and everybody was talking about RIPs and I was like, ‘What's going on?’" Cleveland junior Kage Bishop said.
By the time Bishop got to the Cleveland High School campus Monday morning, he knew the whole story – that a 17-year-old senior was shot and killed near 15th Avenue South and South Forest Street.
Witnesses performed CPR to save his life, but he died on the way to the hospital.
Police are still searching for a blue Honda seen speeding away from the scene.
On Monday night, more than a hundred people gathered to remember Robinson’s life and pray. They walked a few blocks from the Beacon Hill light rail station to the corner where Robinson was shot.
Friends who spoke to KIRO 7 don’t know why the shooting happened – and they want answers.
“Everybody's sad by it,” said Lamaria Pope, a friend.
“It's random. It's shocking. We need answers because we don't really know,” she said.
Seattle School District officials say it's a struggle to keep information under wraps until they feel it’s best to release it, but on Monday morning, they were still protective of their students, announcing the death immediately after a staff meeting, making robo calls to parents, and sending students home with letters.
"While the crime didn't happen on our campus it's a crime that happened in our neighborhood, we just want these kids to know they don't need to be scared, we're here to support them and we're going to keep extra counselors here as long as we can," said Stacy Howard with Seattle Public Schools.
Bishop says that might help, but Cleveland students will be hurting for some time.
"It's just sad. Nobody really deserves to go, but especially someone you used to see every day. It's hard, you know,” said Bishop.
Though the student's name is all over social media, and his peers know it, too, the school district is not releasing it because he is a minor.