LYNNWOOD—A Thirteen-year-old girl who was shot in the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood on Wednesday evening has succumbed to her injuries, Lynnwood Police reports. She has been identified as Jayda Woods-Johnson. Jayda’s family requests privacy at this time.
The suspect has been identified as a 16-year-old male from Edmonds. He was brought in by his mother and is in custody. He will be booked into jail for Murder police say. The gun has not yet been recovered. Detectives continue to follow leads and collect all available evidence.
An altercation ensued at approximately 6:04 p.m. on July 3 between two groups of teenagers in the Alderwood Mall food court at which point one teenaged male withdrew a handgun and fired a single round. Unfortunately, an innocent, uninvolved, 13-year-old girl who was walking by the incident with her friend was struck by the bullet. She was rushed to hospital and later succumbed to her injuries.
“I am heartbroken for this young girl and her family and asked that you keep them in your prayers,” Lynnwood Police Chief Cole Langdon wrote in a statement.
Police Officers believe there were four to five teenage males who approached two other males resulting in a physical fight and subsequent fatal shooting. The victim’s family has been notified.
Every LPD officer in the area responded with assistance by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol, and Mountlake Terrace PD. K-9 units and helicopter assistance were also provided.
The mall was evacuated and put on lockdown. LPD posted on their twitter around 7:17 p.m. to avoid the Alderwood Mall area.
The suspect was identified using the mall’s surveillance cameras wearing a white sweatshirt with black lettering, black pants, white shoes, and a large afro.
As this is still an ongoing investigation the LPD could not provide any more information at this time. They also do not know whether the altercation was gang-related or what make, model, or caliber the firearm used in the incident was. Law enforcement has not acquired the firearm.
The mall is no longer in lockdown as of 7:48 p.m.
Commander Patrick Fagen told the Lynnwood Times he cannot recall another shooting taking place at the mall through his entire career with the Lynnwood Police Department.
The LPD encourages anyone who witnessed the altercation or have any information that could lead to the arrest of the other individuals involved in the crime, to contact 911.
This is a developing story please check back as more information becomes available.
Editor’s note:
- [11:27 p.m., July 3, 2024] Article updated with victim’s name and that the suspect was caught.
- [10:42 p.m., July 3, 2024] Article updated with latest information regarding the victims age and of her passing.
81 Responses
Why do you call her both Jayda and Jayden in the first paragraph?
Corrected.
Learn to read it says her full name then states Jada’s family is asking for privacy Doesn’t say two names
The police need to be trained better; they didn’t have officers at all entrances. My son and I almost walked into the mall shortly after the shooting. A business employee ran by us outside and warned people there was an active shooter. Why didn’t the police secure the building? It would’ve protected more innocent people and it would’ve helped them find the suspect at large. Very scary for my autistic son to experience this.
The police need better training…? This is not the story madam! How about, what kind of parents are raising these monsters?!
Exactly. How about pray for the young ladies family. So sad. Such a beautiful innocent life lost. Not fair. Prayers to her friends and family during this difficult time 🙏💔
This isn’t about!
Correct! It is now ” not if- but when”.
The shooters mother turned him in. It wasn’t the parents, some kids just turn bad for no good reason.
I support your statement. She turned her son in to face his consequences. I see her as a morally a responsible person. I’m confident to say she’s heartbroken over this.
Nope! She bailed him out the next day not even 24 hours after he stole this young girls innocent life. His dad is a doctor, he had been kicked out of school. He is a bad apple and his parents are part of the problem.
There is ALWAY a reason/reasons.
Nah that mom did something wrong raising a killer
Good point, she raised a killer, then turned him in. Top-notch parenting.
Way to make it about you, Kim. Maybe try being more aware of your surroundings. People running out of the building and a plethora of emergency vehicles didn’t seem odd to you? Or was this before a large number of officers were able to get on scene? They don’t fucking teleport.
Sorry Kim. Directed at JP.
Best response ever….. they don’t teleport!!! What? since when?…. And totally agree she made it about herself. A little girl dies and somehow it’s about JP.
Your funny if you think kids only turn out this way from “bad parenting”. Think more along the lines of social influence, school, friends. Its illegal to lock your child in thier room and home. You cant be there to watch every move they make. Kids lie, sneak around etc. I am 17 months younger than my brother. He took a different path n spent 16 years locked up. I did not. Raised by the same parents at the same time. How about kudos to this 16yo child’s mother for turning him in. How heartbreaking for a mother and prayers to her family and the 13yo girls family. Beautiful young CHILD gone too soon.
Except, the parent turned in her son. She’s a standup human for that, at least.
His mom turned him in. Let’s give her some grace and question how this child got a gun.
Yes. This. Move the focus to questioning how the child got a gun. And further questioning how to develop common sense gun laws.
This “child” is a gangbanging killer who will brag about what he did once he is inevitably free to kill more children and adults. Sympathy for murderers never yields results.
The mother turned him in! I commend her for doing that!
Woooo harsh judgmental much. Who are you to critize the parents. I moved here from Chicago I was out with gangs parents did everything they could to keep me away. Rest assured this was not easy for the parents but they did do the right thing by bringing in their child.
Yes!
The fact that this boy’s mother had the moral aptitude to turn her son in, which would be an extremely difficult thing to do, speaks volumes about her as a parent. As parents, we don’t control every move of our teenage and adult children. Maybe you could commend her rather than condemn her right now!
Can’t really talk badly about the mother of the shooter. She was the one who turned her son in. As horrible as this is for the victim’s family and my heart grieves for them. I also have feelings of grief and support for his mother. Apparently, he ran home, some place safe for him. She did not uphold his behavior. It was a total act of tough love and discipline. We don’t know if he has been on a behavioral decline over the past year, month or even weeks. She stood up and parented him. This mother did not raise a monster.
He had every intent to take another person’s life firing that gun. She raised a monster who should never see the light of day. Shame on you for saying something like this.
Exactly.
The police were defunded….remember? They are probably doing the best they can with what they have to work with. Bless them.
Do you think they were trying to catch a suspect ? Save a life ? Multiple entrances.
Exactly
The police were not defunded. Please just stop. Lynnwood has all the police it’s ever had and just built a 60 plus million dollar facility. The mall has indoor and out door stores. Many many doors to cover. Plus parking structures and apartments and another strip mall in the mall parking lot. Plus 7 or more entrances and exits. This happened in the food court and required a massive response there that fanned out but unless you think lynnwood should have 250 full time cops then there was no way to have all of that place covered. Look at a map of the place and count stores.
Thank you for that truth
My thoughts exactly.
First, let’s all recognize that this is about the horrible loss of a kid. I can’t imagine the loss her parents are feeling.
But, comments about how the police are “defunded” are ignorant. Because it’s public information – you should look things up before saying things that are factually not true. If you look at the Lynnwood budget. (2019-2020 Budget Page 388 or 2023-2024 budget page 223) The operating revenues for the department have increased nearly every year since 2016 (earliest budget posted on CoL website). Tax revenues have more than doubled since 2018. 23-24 budget being the highest its ever been. This took me under 5 minutes to confirm and a simple Web Search to confirm. Be better.
I cited the wrong pages. My apologies. Budget Page 293 in 2019. Budget Page 177 in 2024.
Also, for context, in 2020 the police budget was $19.2M. In 2024 the budget was $49.4M. 2016 actual was $17.1M…
Over that same time period, the department went from 101 employees to 123 employees. None of this has anything to do with police funding.
Same is true with Seattle. Seattle has not reduced the number of officers through all the talk of “defund the police”. Blaming policing woes on budgets is an easy, but wrong answer
Did you vote for this shit? Or are you American? If you voted Democrat, you’re not allowed to complain because you literally allowed it.
Yup!!!! Exactly
Aren’t the republicans the ones who want guns? Hmmm Trumper is all over NO gun control and bought out by NHRA. Maybe you should pay more attention. Scary.
National Hot Rod Association? Nice!!! That’s my President!! ❤️🤍💙
Haha
A 16 year old having a pistol on his pants isn’t what us republicans are standing up for when we speak about gun rights. Theres a difference between knowing our second amendment is just and right. And a kid carrying illegally. Get a grip. This isn’t a political occurance. It’s a cultural one.
From many news reports over the years, I’ve seen complaints from Republicans about requiring training, wait times, and other restrictions and requirements (like keeping the guns locked and totally inaccessible to any but others who also have gone through the requirements.
I’m not anti-gun. I’m pro-safety. I have a couple of relatives who hunt. One said his guns are locked in a place his family doesn’t even know. (He was a 20-year veteran too.) The other has a very well protected location for his guns and a few other things. Only a few people know the code, and they’re all super responsible and have never been otherwise.
Republicans (but obviously not all) seem to think that safety requirements are contrary to rights. Nope. They save the rights of “life”.
Gun rights advocates wanted the deceased to have a gun, not the hoodlum who shot her. Defense, not offense. Dems don’t get it because they want to vote for a corpse in November.
What a stupid comment!!! This ain’t because of politics!….
Explain how Democrats allowed a 16-year old to walk into small a shoot a 13 year old girl.
Best answer right here☝️
Yes instead voted for women to lose all their rights
Yup!
Yup meant to Lisa Pearson
Wow. Making all of this about YOU with total disregard for the young girl and the families for those directly involved in this terrible situation. You must be one of those who ALWAYS want to be the center of attention.
They have a limited amount off officers on sight. They didn’t know how many shooters there were and they had a large area to cover looking for up to 15 teenagers that were involved. Good grief!
Somehow you twist this into the police being the problem. Nice. It’s called situational awareness. Maybe all the sirens and large police presence would tip you off.
Need to train 16 yr old animals to not shoot people before that.
You are so off base. Policemen protect their lives daily for us. They are paid crap and must put up with the worst of society. Often their hands are tied. Please instead blame liberal politicians who have weakened penalties for crimes.
As someone who was working when this happened, it was scary for everyone. I don’t think you understand all of the steps that go into securing a large site like the mall. They didn’t need more training, they needed more officers. Don’t talk badly about the officers. They did what they could. No one expects a 16 year old to start shooting because of a stupid fight between teens. The evacuation was handled well and quickly. This could have gone much much worse than it did. You didn’t hear the gunshot, people screaming, and then running in fear of their lives. You weren’t there.
Thanks for sharing about the various entrances needing people like Police Officers there who may inform people to leave due to a serious situation. Other Town Police Depts appreciate peoples observations and inform their Officers for Insights. I’ve sat through an information meeting by Our Police about their priorities responding, 1st apprehend the Shooter! They really care to keep Everyone Safe!
What the fuck does autism have to do with this? Anyone could be triggered or in fear. Get over yourself and do something about it at city hall.
Saw the shooting happen me and my sisters ran outside then when police arrived they just let people that weren’t in the mall when it happened continuously walk pass them while the shooting was still active
Welcome to WA, Kathy! Guess you weren’t fucking here when Olympia went woke? Guess you missed the part where cops in WA were demonized as “racists” and had their hands tied? Apparently you forgot they just now got their right to pursue criminals back? Jesus fucking christ, pay attention. Tell us you’re a belligerent liberal commie cuck, without telling us…..
My heart goes out to both families of this tragedy. More for the victim of this crime but also for the family of the child that did this. No one needs their child hurt and dying, nor making such a bad choice in life that end’s a life.
The senseless death of this beautiful young girl at the hands of probably a stolen firearm is absolutely horrible. Sometimes they are taken from family member but often they have been supplied by thieves.
This type of thing should never happen in school outside of a school and certainly never at a mall a church a grocery store or any other place or it should be defined as terrorism. The people involved are not educated or they would not engage in this behavior. They are all about respect but don;t even know what being respectful of others means. They haven;t learned it or earned it. They are too young or stupid to understand how badly their choices are made based on there own elevated sense of respect in reality that doesn’t exist to begin with.
They are but children and laws to protect them from firearms have been broken sometimes by minors themselves.
The gun laws are not enforced that are on the books. They will plea bargain anything down based on political choices of labeling the causation being racism and lack of the chances the child who pulled the trigger was given in life to make something better of it. Rather than face facts. If this wasn’t a wealthier state full of big democrat donations we would have more Soro’s elected prosecutors but it seems most prosecutors including the former King County prosecutor in recent years was following the same Democrat ideas and concepts.
The school system in WA state is run by the teachers union just as the state government has been run by the teachers union for decades. Rather than the business of teaching they are in the business of political rule. Lets see how they are doing after JFK allowed unionization of government.
From a few years ago: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/06/gun-deaths-among-us-kids-rose-50-percent-in-two-years/
Percentage of high school graduates or higher by state? Washington is around the middle at number 18 out of 50 states. But I am sure if I was in a school here I would learn to say and pronounce the right pronouns for some goofy teacher’s politics.
Over 100 years WA state has been run by Democrats. The only governor I have had that is Republican that i remember was a RINO. Dan Evans, from the wiki a liberal crust tank below.
“Despite being a Republican and a self-styled conservative,[3] Evans became known for his administration’s liberal policies on environmentalism (he founded the country’s first state-level Department of Ecology, which became Nixon’s blueprint for the federal Environmental Protection Agency) and strong support of the state’s higher education system, including founding Washington’s system of community colleges. In addition, he signed a bill to legalize abortion in the first four months of a pregnancy and fought unsuccessfully for a state income tax, two additional liberal positions.”
Remember they don;t want cops in schools either. But magically want them to show up on a magic carpet and stop and capture those involved with a big net. Who would want to be a police officer when the left has labelled who you can shoot and who you cannot. More Caucasian men die at the hands of police being shot than any other group. Yet the far left activist narrative doesn’t state this fact. However why would anyone want to defend people when they have to choose between prison and defending themselves dependent on the label “a particular individual” has?
This is the result of bad liberal ideas and some kids who don’t have the ethics, values, moral acuity, common sense, or experience, or fear of god, to not go to a mall with guns and engage in conflict with no respect for others there. Irony as the shooting is not doubt related to some perceived lack of respect. Who fills their heads with this garbage?
Who says dueling shouldn’t exist? It wouldn’t be allowed at the mall but that is what you are seeing with much more modern age firearms and no zero rules followed from dueling. All based on you disrespected me or didn’t give me the respect I am owed because I have my big head and my ego is more important than someone else’s life. They are so easily bruised. JC!, who ever taught these ignorant kids to think to think like this?
Until this state bites the bullet and starts prosecuting gun crimes rather than plea bargaining down there is no incentive to not steal and sell guns. How many gangs of kids have we seen crash stolen cars and trucks into legal dope shops and legal gun stores. OH gee the last how many years they weren’t even pursued by liberal law made in WA State and now reversed. Ever had your truck stolen out front of your house in Seattle? I have.
If WA State and Bob Ferguson and Jay Inslee weren’t just communist lapdogs perhaps they would actually give a F-bomb about prosecuting gun crimes to instill the fear of spending the rest of your life in prison. But no children won’t and most will end up in cyclical nightmare of catch and release. What was Jay’s big contribution as a Governor. Not the pandemic and his take your civil rights away policy to decide if you want a covid shot or not. Oh yeah within a matter of days of him getting elected he immediately reversed the state on capital punishment. You don’t have to worry about what you do because you can do anything now and not be put to death. Thanks Jay for instilling no fear of retribution because you and Bob are gits that don’t care about anything but power.
Bob’s vote for me ads make me laugh as its so pathetically unreal/ he doesn;’t care anything about your family or we wouldn’t have had the insane unethical lockdowns we had during the pandemic. They could lock you up for not receiving the shot they thought. Meanwhile let the criminals out of jail, a basic communist prinicple to creating more anarchy and reason to allow them total control.
You can be angry that someone makes this political but this in its roots is politically caused. Soon you will hear calls from the left wing activist groups about gun control blaming the firearm owner and how its their fault or the firearm manufacturer’s fault. When in fact it is the political climate of idiocy here in WA state that has allowed this behavior to go on with little consequence.
Its political choices for anarchy that have consequences very similar to the movie Idiocracy. Watch it at the way back machine or web archive for free. You may see some of the society the character is facing is similar to what ours has become.
Remember you can burn an American flag but don;t do that to Rainbow Warrior flag or in this state you will be accused of a hate crime. This is just one example of how our law has become bent and hypocritically bent to benefit only one side unfairly at all times.
Do you think they will prosecute the people who supplied this firearm to child not old enough to own one by state laws?
Do you think they will curb the violence with their plans and ideas of forcing DEI on everyone and everything? They can’t even bring themselves to kick illegals out of the country that don’t follow law and are known criminals/
Why would they even care about a senseless death of a beautiful young girl? Jay and Bob tried moving all rapist inmates, the highest level sex offenders from the McNeil Island a couple of years back to your neighborhood.
During and after the pandemic it became popular (communist) idea of releasing all inmates. Bob and Jay tried to release them to insecure locations everywhere in the state to share the burden of the disaster of freeing them and money to their democrat friends to oversee their escape and crimes continue.
Vote for idiots and you will have idocracy. The problem is Washington state is a one party system that is completely one sided idiocentric. A real word. Isn’t that what the signs mean in all these white liberal front yards? “This house believes in one-sided idiocentric government. ” Kill all the white guys you want but oh the wrong label and you will go to prison. Idiocracy truly.
Exactly admin their policies are destroying this country and the very people complaining about police are demanding police do the impossible within their constraints and these same people are the ones voting for it and still clueless. Like Yuri Bezmenov said the liberals will be the first complaining and they’re the ones causing it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw
How on earth did this very sad post devolve into this idiotic political tirade? Shame on all of you who are lacking compassion, and blaming your neighbors for anything. Please just try to get along and be nice! I’m sure some of you wouldn’t dare say such things if you were conversing face to face. Remember karma, and what goes around – comes around. May it not bite you in the ass….
Happy 4th!!
Straight on Anonymous
Fucking punks think they’re tough with guns.
Be a man and fight without out it you fucking wimps.
Those days are over. I agree with you.
Heartbreaking
I’m impressed with the mother that brought her son into the police department to hold him responsible for what he did that would’ve been hard on her part but as a responsible parent, she did the right thing.
Police work on getting a helicopter to get the victim moved out immediately
Then they have to sort through dozens of people to get information. The suspects all were located in short order.
Police do have many rolls in our community and getting all 30 entrances locked. It might have been a little more difficult than you think. Be nice and support our community.
My heart is broken that an innocent girl lost her life and her family lost their daughter. No family should have to go through something like this and my prayers are with them. Cudos to the mother who did the right thing and turned her son in. My prayers are with you too as you also lost your son today and I know your heart is hurting too.
And this is the type of true compassion that needs to be shown in response by community! Brava Ann! My condolences to the girls family above all, my respect to the boys mom for making a call no parent wants to make BUT SHE DID! And my thoughts are with first responders who worked so save a young life and couldn’t, they will carry that the rest of theirs.
Yes.. painful all around. Thank you for expressing that.
Please bring back consequences, don’t close juvenile jails. Those who have been in charge have failed us by allowing crime to run rampant and vilifying police. They should be held accountable
Please don’t criticize our first responders. They are doing a thankless job. Vote for more conservative politicians who want to make criminal behavior punishable with severe penalties. If people are scared to commit crimes because they know they will have their hand cut off or whatever, watch what happens. Right now there is no law and order due to liberal laws, not because of police training. Police are underpaid, understaffed, and underpowered thanks to our politicians you voted for.
Where is his dad?
To Jada’s family and friends, my heart aches for all of you. She’s so beautiful! Thinking of you all during this difficult time.
*Jayda
They want to know who else was involved. I don’t understand why the 16 yr old was released on bail. He knows who else was involved. Hold him until he gives u the names.
Yep…exactly.
“police have not recovered the firearm.” The alleged shooter is now out on bail. what do you want to bet that the police never find that firearm now! somebody wasn’t thinking very clearly in the judicial.