Horrific Shooting of Family Leaves Aki Kurose Saddened

This is beyond sad.

Here's the story from KIRO-tv .  (They get one thing wrong - the Aki student killed, Anahlia Cowherd, was not a "fifth grader" at Aki because it's a middle school.  I have been unable to reach Communications but it was reported she was 11 so I would think a 6th grader).

Anahlia reported at an online site that her grandfather had been inappropriately touching her.  She wrote:
She wrote “I’m Anahlia Cowherd … and I’m gonna bring justice to all girls who have been touched.”

Apparently her mother found out and confronted her father.  (It appears they lived together.)  The father, Honorario Yango, shot Anahlia, her mother and tried to shoot her 10-year old brother.  He fled to a neighbor's house where police were called.  The grandfather then shot himself to death.

The father of the two children said he found his daughter's blog alleging abuse from the grandfather on Tuesday morning and called police. While he waited for a call back from Seattle Police Department, he received a call from another detective telling him about the deaths.

"When I Googled my daughter's name, the blog popped up," the father, Terrell Cowherd, said. "The only conclusion I can come to is that she must have actually got to the point where she was about to call police, and I guess that was his way of preventing her from doing so."


Aki Kurose's principal, Mia Williams, sent a letter home to parents, notifying them of the event and letting them know counselors were available.

Anahlia was an honors student at Aki Kurose.

The surviving brother is a student at Rainier View Elementary.  He is staying with family.

District Athletic Director is asking for district sports teams and fans to wear white at this weekend's games as a symbol of hope.

To All,

Tragedy has struck two Washington communities in the last week. We have seen how Marysville-Pilchuck has been affected since last Friday, and earlier this week there was yet another fatal incident right here at home. A student from Aki Kurose Middle School, was killed in Seattle. The grief her friends, classmates and community feel today is immeasurable. It is with two significant events in mind, that we ask all of you to join us in honoring the students who lost their lives this weekend.

ALL Metro League school principals, athletic directors, coaches and SPS middle school levels are asked to reach out to their own school communities in an effort to pay our respects for those directly impacted by these recent events.

We ask ALL FANS attending any Seattle school sporting event this weekend to wear something WHITE signifying HOPE and HEALING. This includes fans, parents, students, administrators and staff attending any and all sports contests -- this includes playoff games.

It is at times like these that we must come together to support one another, even if we aren’t personally affected.  We express our thoughts and prayers by coming together as ONE and wearing WHITE as a symbol of hope for a better tomorrow.

In service,

Eric C. McCurdy
Executive Director of Athletics
Seattle Public Schools

Comments

mirmac1 said…
I'm just crushed that this happens to our kids. Dr. Nyland appeared very down, and shaken when I saw him last.
Anonymous said…
In the Seattle Times today they had the quote from the online blog she had written on saying that she was 11 and in 5th grade. That posting must have been from last school year. It also says the sexual abuse was going on for about four years. So sad. The moved in to that home to escape physical violence from the mom's husband. So Sad.
NEmom

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