By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Friends and family members are rallying around a promising young couple who are two of the latest victims of the gun violence that is plaguing the streets of Central and Southeast Seattle.
According to police reports, Seattle Police officers responded to multiple reports of shots fired near the intersection of Rainier Ave. S. and S. Henderson St. last Friday, June 18 at 5:44 p.m. At the scene, officers found two gunshot victims — Jihad Adbul-Haqq, 19, and his girlfriend, Samari Ladd Ali, 18 – who were wounded by a spray of bullets. Abdul-Haqq was struck in the hand and Ladd Ali was struck in the abdomen.
Both victims were transported to the hospital by ambulance. Adbul-Haqq was released after being treated for an injury to his hand. But Ladd Ali, who underwent emergency surgery after she arrived at the hospital, remains hospitalized with limited mobility after losing a kidney. In addition, Ali Ladd still has a bullet lodged in her body close to her spinal cord, as doctors determined the risk of removing the bullet might cause further complications including possible paralysis.
There is growing speculation that Adbul-Haqq and Ladd Ali were victims of mistaken identity. The couple was driving in Adbul-Haqq’s car, a 2013 Camaro, when the incident occurred. Multiple sources in the community claim that it is believed that the assailants were looking for someone else driving a car that was a similar make and model.
The shooting is both baffling and disheartening to the friends and family of both victims.
Both Abdul-Haqq and Ladd Ali are promising young people with a bright future ahead of them. Abdul-Haqq is a scholarship football player at Miles College, an HBCU in Alabama, where he plays quarterback and is majoring in computer information technology. While Ladd Ali is a straight “A” student and standout track and field athlete, who graduated from Garfield High School in 2020 and now attends Arizona State University. Both earned Associated Degrees from Seattle Central while in high school through the running start program.
“Jihad is the kind of son a father would want in a child,” says his father, Naqeeb “Teezzy” Abdul-Haqq. “He graduated from high school early, he is an athlete, he doesn’t hang out in the streets, he plays video games, goes to school and hangs out with his girlfriend, that is his life – sports, video games and his girlfriend.”
“Both kids have top GPAs, Jihad has a 3.0 college GPA, [he has] a scholarship for quarterback at Miles College and he just came home for the summer and this happens,” continued the elder Abdul-Haqq. “All he was doing was going to get something to eat with his girlfriend.”
Random shootings and gun violence, in general, in Seattle are on the rise, particularly in South Seattle, and the community is trying to figure out where did things go wrong and who should be accountable for both the actions and the solutions.
“I believe the community should pay more close attention to what their children are doing,” says Abdul-Haqq’s stepmother, Tia Anderson. [People should] be more aware of what their children are doing. I do not know who did the shooting, but I believe its teenagers and if more parents were aware these things would not be happening.”
Unfortunately, Anderson is not alone in her assessment.
According to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, 69 shooting victims have been reported over the last three months in King County alone, 16 of them were fatal. There were 253 shots fired incidents during the first three months of 2021, up 25% from a four-year average between 2017-2020. The number of shooting victims increased 27% from the first quarter average, the number of fatalities went up 16% and number of non-fatal shootings increased by 24%.
“We are continuing the very disturbing trend of 2020 in the first three months of 2021,” says King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg. “We are on pace to do that again this year. Bottom line, 2020 was an unexpectedly violent year and 2021 continues that trend.”
Abdul-Haqq’s parents, who are both staunch advocates for the community, agree and say they are weary and tired of the violent environment that the community appears to be headed towards and are looking for answers as to how can “we as a community can step up and protect our children.”
“It leaves the question what else can a parent do and what else can a child do to live a safe life in Seattle,” says the elder Abdul-Haqq. “Now I am dealing with a son who is completely shellshocked, not sleeping well, every time a car drives by he needs to see who it is, I mean we are just in hurry to get him healed and get him out of here.”
For Abdul-Haqq, it is difficult to see the transformation of his son after the incident. A source of pride for the younger Abdul-Haqq was the fact that he saved his money for about two years in order to buy the car that was shot up in the incident without the help of his parents. According to his father, his son may not see the car for years because it has been admitted as evidence in the case.
Anderson has her own beliefs when it comes to what needs to be done in regards to deterring the community’s children from resorting to gun violence.
“I feel, honestly, we don’t have a community right now,” says Anderson. “With all the gun violence this is not a community. If we actually came together as a community a lot of this stuff would not be happening.”
“As far as the gun violence, I believe [it is time] for the older men to step up and start parenting the younger men and getting it out there that gun violence is not the answer,” continued Anderson. “Gang violence is not the solution, selling drugs is not the answer. But if nobody is talking to these teenagers it is going to continue to happen, continue to be a vicious cycle, no one is schooling [these kids] anyone.”
In a Facebook post, Ladd Ali’s mother posted the following statement:
“Thank you everyone for your prayers. Samari is my youngest and she is a special young lady,” read the post. “She has a long journey ahead towards recovery, but the bonus blessing is, that she is alive and able to recover.
GoFundMe accounts have been set up for both victims. As of press time, nearly $12,000 has been raised for Ladd Ali out of an estimated $70,000 to help cover medical and recovery expenses. While just over $1,800 has been raised for Abdul-Haqq. The GoFundMe links are below.
Fundraiser by Dinah Ladd : Samari Ali’s Road to Recovery (gofundme.com)
This is a developing story that will be updated as more information is available.
