MUKILTEO — The shooting deaths nearly a year ago of three young people and injury to a fourth shattered many in this city.
The community plans to commemorate the event this year similar to the way it responded last year — by coming together.
The event is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. July 30 at Lighthouse Park. Two picnic shelters have been reserved.
People are encouraged to bring food, Frisbees, and “hang out together,” Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said.
Former Kamiak High School students Anna Bui, Jacob Long and Jordan Ebner, all 19, were killed July 30, 2016, during a shooting at a house party. Will Kramer was seriously injured.
In January, a former classmate was sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility of release for the murders and the assault on Kramer.
Within hours of the shootings, Mukilteo Strong signs were displayed on restaurant message boards and sprang up on lawns around town. The slogan was added to T-shirts and wristbands.
This year’s Lighthouse Park event was organized in that spirit, Gregerson said.
“The concept of forming Mukilteo Strong and thinking about that mission is really all about bringing our community together,” she said.
The first-year mark can be a time when people are feeling alone, sad, or lonely, she said.
It’s important that an event to demonstrate the strength and support that arose in the Mukilteo Strong slogan occurs this year at Lighthouse Park, Gregerson said.
“Giving the community a space they know they will be supported and be supportive is important,” she said.
The city also is planning to establish Peace Park, not only dedicated to the memory of Bui, Long and Ebner, but other losses the community has experienced, such as students who have taken their lives by suicide.
A meeting to discuss the design and location of the park is scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m. July 26 at Rosehill Community Center in Mukilteo.
A final plan for how the park will be developed is expected in the fall. The goal is to start construction next spring and open it in the summer of 2018.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Gathering
A Mukilteo Strong gathering is planned from 1 to 4 p.m. July 30 at Lighthouse Park, 609 Front St. It is to commemorate the shooting deaths a year ago of Anna Bui, Jacob Long and Jordan Ebner, and the injury to Will Kramer.
A meeting to plan the location and design of Peace Park is scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m. July 26 at Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave. in Mukilteo.
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