A December shooting on SR 509 left a 14-year-old without sight.
Troopers said at about 11 p.m. on Dec. 20, a family was driving on southbound SR 509 just south of the First Avenue South Bridge when the front passenger window of the family's vehicle was shot out.
Fourteen-year-old Andy Isidoro was hit in the head three days before his birthday and subsequently lost his vision. He told KIRO 7 that he’s just grateful to be alive.
“If I need to live, I have to be strong,” said Isidoro. “Usually people die of shots in the head.”
His family was driving home from church when the shooting happened.
Isidoro’s mother, Delores Gonzalez, remembers hearing glass shatter.
“All of a sudden he just woke up and said ‘Mom, my eyes! My eyes,’” said Gonzales. “Not everybody survives a bullet through the face, the head and especially, they told me it was centimeters away from the brain.”
“I noticed that my eyes couldn't open something was dropping down my neck and I realized am I bleeding?” said Isidoro.
He has a message for the person who shot him, “I just want to say that I forgive them.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with medical expenses.
While troopers say injuries to the teen may not have been intentional, there have been other reports from people in the area who said their vehicles have been struck by gunfire over a period of months.
Police said they are investigating 11 random shootings in the Burien-SeaTac area.
Troopers said the teen was the first person to be injured in one of the SR 509 shootings.
A task force was created in response to the shootings.
Anyone with information about any of the shootings, or who has had property hit by gunfire in the area, is asked to call 425-401-7880 or email SR509shootingtip@wsp.wa.gov. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
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