Tra'veiah Houfmuse ate lunch in the principal's office every day. His backpack was checked each morning. He was not supposed to leave Rainier Beach High School without an adult escort.

On Jan. 30, no one came to pick him up. The 17-year-old senior walked to a bus stop in front of South Shore K-8, and a 15-year-old suspect stepped off a Metro bus, walked up to Houfmuse and 18-year-old Tyjon Stewart, and fired at least a dozen rounds, killing both in broad daylight as schools were letting out.

A tort claim filed in May by Cedar Law LLP on behalf of Houfmuse's grandmother, Benita Morris, and his father alleges Seattle Public Schools' negligence caused his death. The filing, first reported by The Seattle Times, details three successive safety plans Rainier Beach staff created for Houfmuse over his high school career, each triggered by an escalating incident, and contends the school violated the final plan on the day he was killed.

"This is just a tragic breakdown in systems," attorney Lara Hruska, Cedar Law's founding partner, told The Seattle Times on Monday. "The grandmother trusted the school and the district's community partners to keep him safe and they failed."

Three plans, three failures

The tort claim traces a pattern. During Houfmuse's sophomore year, a vice principal barred him from leaving campus. He left anyway during his junior year, got into a car with other students, and was knocked unconscious when the driver hit a tree. He missed a month of school recovering.

A renewed plan followed. In early 2025, Houfmuse left campus again and was arrested at a nearby restaurant after students reported he had a gun; no weapon was found.

After that, a third plan required daily backpack checks, lunch in the principal's office, and a "verbal transportation plan" to get him home safely. His uncle typically picked him up. When the uncle was unavailable, school staff were supposed to coordinate with community partners (typically Community Passageways or Urban Family) to provide a ride.

Disputed accounts

The filing claims Morris called Paul Patu, executive director of Urban Family, on the morning of Jan. 30 to arrange a ride. Patu allegedly responded, "I got you. I got you covered." After The Seattle Times published its report, Patu contacted the paper to say he did not have that conversation with Morris.

Patu is the brother of Rainier Beach principal Annie Patu. The tort claim also alleges Annie Patu called Morris after the shooting and said, "Ms. Benita, he wasn't supposed to be there." Annie Patu denied having that conversation and deferred all questions to the district's communications team.

Dominique Davis, CEO of Community Passageways, told The Seattle Times his organization had no agreement to transport Houfmuse and that the student had been removed from its caseload at least eight months before the shooting.

SPS chief of staff Bev Redmond issued a written statement calling Houfmuse's death "a tragedy for our school community" but declined to address the specific allegations, citing pending litigation.

No district-wide safety plan data

Rainier Beach High School is a Title I school where 95% of students are people of color and 80% are economically disadvantaged. No public data exists on how many SPS students have individualized safety plans, or whether those plans are resourced consistently across the district.

The tort claim raises a question SPS has not answered: when a south-end school's safety plan depends on coordination with community nonprofits, and those nonprofits dispute their role, who is accountable?

That question gained urgency at a July 16 public safety forum in Rainier Beach, reported by the South Seattle Emerald, where about 50 residents pressed city officials on cuts to Community Passageways' funding. The city restructured violence prevention dollars, spreading funds from four organizations to 19. South Precinct Capt. Heidi Tuttle told the crowd she was "extremely nervous for next year."

A 15-year-old suspect was arrested in March and charged in juvenile court with two counts of first-degree murder. King County prosecutors are seeking to try him as an adult.

No school board member representing the Rainier Beach area has publicly commented on the tort claim. Residents can request the district's safety plan records under Washington's Public Records Act at seattleschools.org/departments/legal-services/public-records-requests.

Seattle Schools Week Ahead

• Thursday, Aug. 13: Public safety forum, Alan T. Sugiyama High School, Rainier Beach. SPD and violence prevention groups to present plans for continuing services after funding restructuring.