Parents speak out after middle school student killed by runaway car
Mar 12, 2025, 5:27 AM
Arsema Mekonnen, a 12-year-old middle school student killed by a runaway car. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
The parents of a 12-year-old middle school student killed by a runaway car speak out about the tragedy.
In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, they told KIRO 7, Seattle school officials have abandoned them.
As you might guess, they are struggling to accept that their daughter is dead.
Their grief is made worse because they say no one from Seattle Public Schools has reached out.
“Who killed my kid?” asked Berihun Mekonnen. “Why you don’t tell me? Why?”
Their grief needs no translation, this couple, originally from Ethiopia, is forced to accept the impossible, that their precious 12-year-old daughter is gone.
“Almost six days today,” Mekonnen said. “Never seen my kids. Can you imagine?”
Mekonnen and his wife, Tigist Yitna, have greeted family and friends here since their daughter’s death. Their hearts almost unbearably heavy. They haven’t been allowed to see their daughter since they dropped her off at school that fateful day.
“Did you know that your daughter would be walking around the school outside?” Mekonnen was asked.
“No,” he said. “No, nothing.”
Last Thursday, Arsema Mekonnen was outside Washington Middle School with fellow classmates during second lunch, A vehicle, its 51-year-old driver having left it in a no-parking zone, backed into her, killing her in an instant.
Seattle School Superintendent Brent Jones spoke to reporters soon after the accident, but Arsema’s parents say neither he nor anyone else with the school district has reached out to them.
“They were just left here to fend for themselves and figure out the rest,” said Wintan Haile, a family friend and interpreter.
Now they feel betrayed by their adopted country.
“I brought my daughter here from Ethiopia to have a better life,” said Yitna, as she sobbed, “to go to a better school, get better education. And then I send my child to school and I don’t get my child back.”
Just before 6 o’clock Tuesday, KIRO 7 finally heard from Seattle Schools, from the chief of staff Bev Redmond.
She said they are working to meet with the family “as early as possible this week,” adding they are “committed to supporting this family.”
That is a feeling this family tells us they have not had throughout this ordeal.
Now their young daughter is to be put to rest on Sunday.
