Tag: King County

SEATTLE – As the Washington State Patrol continues its investigation into the mysterious death of two teens found shot to death near I-5 late last week, family and friends are speaking out about the teens’ deaths. 

They say the two 16-year-olds were best friends and were always together. 

The body of Jahaz Phillips was found in the middle of a lane of I-5 on Thursday night at around 10:39 pm.  

Phillips’s family says he was best friends with Myion Coleman, the other 16-year-old who was also shot and killed that night. Coleman’s body was found not far away from Phillips’ on a ramp to the highway near NE 85th in a ditch. 

Family and friends of Jahaz Phillips say he loved to cook and play basketball and badminton. They say he was the funniest kid in the room and his death was so unexpected, it has been tough to process. 

“It’s hard,” said Alisha Quinones, a family friend. “Since I have known him since he was 3 or 4, he’s like another child to me.”

“Every time he would see me at school when he was little, he would always come up and give me a hug and say ‘Hi’,” Quinones said. 

Her daughter, Shanna, met him in preschool and the two became fast friends.  

“Out of everybody I went to daycare and elementary with, he was always that person I clung next to. He was the sweetest dude,” she said. 

The mother and daughter duo say he always had a smile that lit up the room.  

“We were always just laughing,” said Shanna.   

She says Jahaz’s sense of humor never left him, even after he lost his mom to cancer. The two are pictured below. 

“Growing up with his mom having cancer, he still kept a smile on his face,” said Shanna. “Then losing his mom, and he still had that bright touch to him after losing his mom, like going through all that, and just being a positive person just for like this to happen… it’s just not fair.”

Jahaz’s older sister, Tahayla, said he was the baby of the family.

“He was my little brother, but in a sense, he was also my big brother. I used to call him my little big bro.”

She said he was a great brother who was serious about his studies. The two bonded while watching their favorite shows and playing sports. 

“He was super, super, super, good at math, probably better than me,” she said. “We enjoyed the same TV shows, video games, even sports like basketball and badminton.”

Another loved one, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he also excelled as a cook.  

“He could cook the best breakfasts and our family just misses that so much,” she said. 

Tahayla says the family created an online fundraiser to help Jahaz rest in peace, alongside their late mother.   

“His death is really a complete shock. It’s a surprise, it’s unexpected, it’s senseless. We were just not prepared for this at all,” said Tahayla. 

Jahaz’s family is also asking the community to support a fundraiser for the family of his best friend Myion Coleman. Family and friends say the two did everything together and were very close.   

“That’s two young men that got their lives taken away, too young, too young. They should still be here,” said Quinones.

The Washington State Patrol says its investigation is ongoing.  

Although the WSP has confirmed the two deaths are connected, investigators haven’t elaborated as to how.

More on the story

2 Seattle teens found dead near I-5 with gunshot wounds, WSP investigating

Bodies of two teens found along I-5 in North Seattle are connected

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SEATTLE – Each year, hundreds of people die of an overdose in Seattle. 

Now, the city is taking a step forward in trying to combat the crisis. Under a new program, Seattle Fire paramedics will be allowed to administer a new medication that helps people suffering from withdrawal. 

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell says the drug is known to cut the risk of death by half.  

The fire chief says the Health 99 Unit, staffed with firefighter EMTs and a Human Services Department caseworker, is one part of the Seattle Fire Department’s next evolution in saving lives in an opioid epidemic. 

On average, firefighters have been responding to around 100 overdose patients a week, or 400 a month.  

“Emergency responders on the front line of this epidemic sadly respond to overdoses on a daily basis,” said Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins.

Statistics show a shocking rise in overdose calls over the past few years. Harrell says in 2021, the fire department responded to an average of 4.7 overdose calls per day. In 2022, that number jumped to 10.3 and in 2023, it skyrocketed to 15.4. 

So far, in 2024, numbers are tracking at 14.2 overdoses daily. 

“These numbers are inclusive of all suspected drugs that we face,” said Scoggins.

To add more tools to the kit, trained firefighter paramedics will now be able to administer Buprenorphine, which is also known as suboxone, to patients that they encounter in the field. 

“It works by lowering the cravings that people have for more fentanyl and by preventing fentanyl from causing a person to stop breathing,” said SFD Medical Director Dr. Michael Sayre. 

“Research has found that administering this medication, after a non-fatal overdose, reduces the risk of another overdose by 50%,” said Harrell. 

The fire chief says the medicine also stabilizes people so they can make healthier choices. In the past three weeks since the program launched around Feb. 20, he says that nine people have said ‘yes’ to treatment. 

The mayor says that giving out the medicine in a pre-hospital setting will also reduce the strain on emergency rooms.

“It’s killing people on our streets every single day in our neighborhoods, and it demands that we have tools, cutting edge tools at our disposal to save lives,” said Mayor Harrell. 

Currently, around 10 Seattle Fire Department paramedics have received training to give the medication to patients.

More headlines on Washington’s opioid epidemic

SEATTLE – A Seattle man who committed a series of mail vehicle and mail key thefts was sentenced to over three years in prison for his various crimes.

Johny Mixayboua was sentenced to 41 months in prison for theft of government property, mail theft, illegal transactions on access devices, and illegally possessing a firearm.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Mixayboua stole postal vehicles, postal keys, and mail, causing the postal service to halt deliveries in the zip code 98118 for about a week.

According to court records, a U.S. Postal Service vehicle was stolen in the Rainier View neighborhood on December 28, 2022. The vehicle had a postal key used to access cluster mailbox units in the area, and there were multiple reports of mail being opened and stolen after the theft.

Neighbors also reported their credit cards being stolen and attempts being made to use them.

Through surveillance footage of the cluster mailboxes and from stores where Mixayboua tried to use the credit cards, police were able to identify him as the suspect.

On January 17, 2023, two more Postal Service vehicles were stolen around the Alki neighborhood. Again, Mixayboua stole mail and tried using the credit cards of neighbors.

A fourth postal service vehicle was stolen on January 30, 2023, this time in the South Seattle neighborhood. Mixayboua was once again identified as a suspect in the theft.

The thefts continued in late January and February in the Snoqualmie area, and throughout April, mail thefts continued from as far north as Lake Forest Park and as far south as southeast Seattle.

Mixayboua was living in a vehicle near a relative’s home, and he was arrested after running from officers.

Law enforcement also found a Polymer unregistered firearm, known as a “ghost gun,” that Mixayboua threw in the bushes while running from police.

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones said, “You had opportunities to look at your past and look at your future. You have failed to take advantage of the opportunities provided along the way to change your future. As you grow and mature, you will see all the years wasted engaged in criminal activity.”

“Mr. Mixayboua’s thefts caused widespread hardship – especially for the elderly and disabled who were suddenly forced to line up at the post office to get their mail,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman. “The theft of checks and credit cards caused harm to those hit with fraudulent charges. But even those who did not suffer theft were impacted. Individuals who relied on the mail for medication, medical supplies, food, and financial documents, were asked to physically come into the post office to pick up their mail because they had to shut down service due to the defendant’s actions.”