Father of 19-year-old killed in CHOP says he got condolence call from President Trump, but not Seattle's mayor
SEATTLE - The family of a 19-year-old shot and killed at the edge of the Seattle CHOP zone was laid to rest today in Kent.
The father of Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. told us, he still hasn’t received a call about his son’s death from the Mayor of Seattle Jenny Durkan, but he got a condolence call this morning from President Trump.
"Incredibly, Donald Trump called me," said 50-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr. "The President of the United States called me today. He gave his condolences, and me, I'm not a political guy. I told him, 'Nobody like you.' I'm real. Donald Trump called me and he didn't have to call me."
There was an overflow crowd and overflowing emotions at the funeral home in Kent, where hundreds showed up for today's service.
"I haven't been able to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night. I go look for him. He ain't there," said the older Anderson.
In the early morning hours of Saturday, June 20, shots rang out inside the CHOP zone near Cal Anderson Park in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. A 33-year old man was critically wounded. Anderson died in the shooting.
19-year-old Abrionna Anderson was his cousin and best friend.
"I have no other friends like that, honestly," Anderson said. "Every day we were together. My home was his second home and it's so heartbreaking to me."
Seattle Police said, because of the danger present in the occupied protest they could not safely clear the area. Ambulances never made it to Anderson. Volunteer medics rushed him to the hospital when seconds mattered most.
"My son, he needed help," said Anderson Sr. "And they shouldn't be picking kids up and throwing them in their trunk and taking them to the hospital. The paramedics should have been there. The police should have been there."
He says the city has offered no explanation.
Wednesday night, the father went on Hannity on Fox News to share his pain and frustration.
“It’s like they didn’t care, it didn’t matter. I haven’t heard from the mayor from the police department. No city. Nobody,” said Anderson Sr.
The CHOP has since been dismantled.
There has not been an arrest in the killing of Anderson. This was one of several shootings that happened in and around the CHOP zone.
Including another that left a 16 year old dead and a 14-year-old injured.
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