Tragedy revisits North High grad

tysuave77 Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:27 pm

RUBIDOUX - In 1994, just a week after a gang member's bullet left him paralyzed from the waist down, 15-year-old North High School athlete Terrell Washington vowed he would walk again.

That never happened. But in the ensuing 15 years, Washington worked to rebuild his life.

He married.

He deejayed for parties and reunions.

He drove a car.

He coached youth football and basketball at Nichols Park.

"He found Jesus and he was coping with his situation," his mother, Willena Banks, said.

But on Saturday night, tragedy revisited Washington.

About 11 p.m., while attending his younger sister's birthday party, he was shot in the head while sitting in his wheelchair outside his mother's Rubidoux home. Banks said no one had driven or walked by the house. She said she believed the shots came from an area north of her home.

On Monday, family members kept a vigil at Washington's bedside. The bullet is lodged in a part of the brain that is inoperable.

"The doctors said they have done all they can do," Banks said. "They said it's up to God now."

Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the unidentified assailant or assailants remain at large.

He said the department's Central Homicide Unit is investigating whether Washington was the target or if it was simply a stray bullet.

He declined to say how many shots were fired or whether shell casings were found that would help identify the weapon. Gutierrez did say that Washington is not believed to be a gang member.

Banks said she does not believe anyone would target her son.

"My baby didn't hate anybody," Banks said. "He loved everybody. Everybody was Terrell's friend."

Banks, who was taking a break from her vigil Monday, stood in the driveway of her home and talked about her first-born son whom she described as a "great big teddy bear." He is 6 feet 5 inches tall.

She said she is hopeful that someone will step forward with information that will lead to an arrest.

Fifteen years ago, Washington was a sophomore at North High with dreams of playing for the San Francisco Giants when he was shot in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood near USC.

The assailant asked Washington whether he was "Crip'n or Blood'n." Washington said he answered, "I ain't nothing. I'm just hanging out with my friends."

When the assailant repeated the question, Washington ran and was shot in the back.

Banks said that on Saturday, between 85 and 90 people had gathered at her home for her daughter Na-Tara's birthday party.

People were milling around outside and Banks said she was heading into the house to go to sleep.

"I had to go to the church the next morning," she said.

Suddenly, shots rang out. Banks said she remembered hearing five.

"I looked and my son was on the ground," Banks said. "I went to him and his eyes were rolled up."

Banks said she ran inside and called 911.

Gutierrez of the Sheriff's Department said investigators are asking for the pub-lic's assistance. He asked that anyone with information call Investigator Randall Thomas of the Central Homicide Unit at 951-955-2777 or Investigator Chris Barajas at the Jurupa Valley Station at 951-955-2600.

tysuave77 Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:31 pm

Talked to someone who was at the party and they said someone might have shot from the bushes are a abonded house.It's messed up cuzz dude that got shot was allready in a wheel chair from getting shot when he was younger.