On the afternoon of January 12, 2023, 14-year-old Xaviar Christopher Siess was waiting with friends at a bus stop in Tacoma, Washington, planning to go to a nearby store for candy or food when gunfire shattered the quiet. A passing car turned back onto Portland Avenue and opened fire; witnesses reported a rapid succession of shots. One bullet struck Xaviar in the abdomen. He was taken to a hospital and died during emergency surgery.

The shooting prompted lockdowns at local schools and left a memorial at the bus stop where friends and community members gathered to grieve. Tacoma police investigated the homicide and later arrested 17-year-old William Isaac Kalama, who was charged with first-degree murder. Xaviar’s family remembers him as a kind-hearted boy who loved everyone; his mother was initially told he had only been grazed, a mistaken report that preceded the devastating truth.

If anyone was at that bus stop or saw the car on Portland Avenue that afternoon, please come forward with what was seen or heard.