Washington’s Patrice Thomas is now dealing with the unthinkable, for the second time within half of a year.
The Seattle mother, who gave birth to four children, lost her son to gun violence on Wednesday, after burying her adult daughter in August, who was fatally shot in July.
‘There’s no words that I can describe what I’m going through right now,’ she said.
‘That’s a mother’s nightmare, worst nightmare. It really is. I’m not supposed to be burying my child. My child is supposed to be burying me years down the line.’
A Seattle woman lost her son, Duane Everett Tyson (pictured), 19, to gun violence on Wednesday, after burying her fatally shot daughter, Che’Reonna Thomas, 20, in August
Thomas’s daughter, Che’Reonna, died in August at the age of 20, after she was caught in crossfire while riding in a car in South Seattle in early July.
She celebrated her last birthday in the hospital, before succumbing to her injuries.
Thomas’s son, Duane Everett Tyson, was shot in Kent and killed in Kent on Wednesday night, at the age of 19.
Tyson was part of a group of about a dozen young men who were gathered near Bryson Square Apartments, witnesses reportedly said.
Thomas’s daughter, Che’Reonna, died in August at the age of 20, after she was caught in crossfire while riding in a car in South Seattle in early July.
Authorities were reportedly on their way to the scene when shots rang out at around 10 pm Pacific, and Tyson died at the scene
As the group grew loud, the police were called.
Authorities were reportedly on their way to the scene when shots rang out.
Tyson died at the scene, and two of the others were injured. The teen is survived by a son, two younger bothers, and his mother.
‘These kids need to wake up,’ Thomas said. ‘Everybody needs to wake up and teach your kids about guns. It’s not cool. It’s not safe.’
The teen is survived by a son, two younger bothers, and his mother, Patrice Thomas; Thomas is pictured here with her grandchild, Tyson’s surviving son
Of Thomas’s four children, only her two youngest sons, seen here with Tyson (center), are alive
The death of Thomas’s daughter, Che’Reonna, is still under investigation
Tyson’s father, also named Duane Tyson, was also killed by gun violence, according to theSeattle Patch.
The 34-year-old was shot and killed in Skyway, Washington on June 20, 2007.
Just few months after that in September 2007, Thomas’s boyfriend at the time was also killed, this time in a shooting in front of her home.
‘It was a drive-by,’ she told the Patch. ‘They just drove up into the driveway and shot him.’
Jarrett Bazile, 28, was a Seattle school bus driver. His killer was never found.
The death of Thomas’s daughter, Che’Reonna, is still under investigation, but was reported to have resulted from a mutual exchange of gunfire, between the car she was riding in with her boyfriend and another vehicle.
‘Witnesses told officers that two cars were driving through the area at a high rate of speed while the passengers were possibly firing shots at each other,’ Seattle police wrote in a post describing the incident, according to the Patch.
Che’Reonna’s death was reported to have resulted from a mutual exchange of gunfire, between the car she was riding in with her boyfriend and another vehicle
Thomas said she believed the bullets that struck her daughter in the head, and ultimately led to her death, were meant for her boyfriend.
Thomas said she was not angry with her daughter’s boyfriend, only with the shooter.
Che’Reonna’s father, Eugene from New Orleans, is still alive and was at her funeral in August.
Separate GoFundMe accounts have been set up to raise money for the deaths of Duane Everett Tyson and Che’Reonna Thomas.
Separate GoFundMe accounts have been set up to raise money for the deaths of Duane Everett Tyson and Che’Reonna Thomas