My daughter went to school with him at NVMS and though they weren’t really friends and didn’t hang with the same crowd she stated he was always very nice and always respectful!! So sorry to his family, may he RIP!

Thank you Chief Murray for sharing this. Your gift of empathy is an enormous asset to our community and I for one am blessed and honored that you came to Yakima to be our Police Chief. I deeply appreciate you seeing the whole person. May God be near the loved ones who lost their child to senseless violence and may our community be healed. Thank you sir for playing a part in that.

I pray for this family and our kids daily they go through so much .... Instead of bashing kids and families we need to come together and pray for thoses ones... my Prayers over the children of our valley 🙏 ❤

At the end of the day, this was a child who got caught up in a life far too complicated for him to even understand. And it took his life.

Thank you Chief, every mother would appreciate a response such as this if it were their child. He had so much promise and so little time. RIP Charlie 😢

Thank you Chief Murray. Our Naches community has had a lot of loss of young lives. My son came home, after spending the night with friends, to share Charlie was the victim of the shooting the night before. He was solemn. Often I had encouraged my son to be friendly to Charlie; he was looking to belong. In such a small community, kids of all walks of life have an impact on the children and adults. We can hope our kids can learn strength and friendship from knowing Charlie.💔

Thank you Chief Murray for showing your heart. I hope this inspires all of us to reflect and then act because it really does "take a village" to share in the raising of our children. I believe the more specific the options or directions offered for the community to help, the better. Otherwise, we may founder. Thank you again.

Thank you chief, it is such a heartbreaking ending, but you are an amazing person for sharing this. We could all use a little empathy now days. Keep up the great work and the undaunting task of keeping our city safe, I for one appreciate you and your men and women who risk their lives everyday too keep ours safe, god bless us all

It is so easy to stand back in judgment of other’s choices. He is someone’s son, grandson, etc. and just like we love our own children through their bad choices, I’m sure his family loved him too. My heart goes out to everyone involved in this tragedy.

So sad that many young children are losing their lives to this garbage. May god continue to be with his family.

For many students school is their safe place and it is paras and teachers that help provide them a sense of self and worth in their otherwise overwhelming lives.

Dear Chief Murry, I am reading this in our home in Anchorage, AK. My heart is breaking after reading of the death of this fine young man. The teachers letter brings light to Charlie's heart and soul. Yakima was our home for more than 30 years while raising our family. We still own and rent our home for when we retire and move back. This tragedy is deeply felt even though I never knew him personally. As someone who worked in education for 16 years and made an effort to reach the heart of all students... iit iis so sad to lose him. Thank you for posting. It takes people like you to make such a difference. Let's all do more. Be kind always. 💞

Thank you for posting this. We have all done things regret or wish we would have done better in. It’s tragic to hear about losing such a kind hearted soul and it sad he was wrapped up in gangs and that lifestyle. RIP

Thank you for your post, Chief Murray! As a retired teacher, I have lost students this way. It’s heartbreaking because each had a redeeming quality like Charlie. Although there are many ideas on solving gang issues, I hope our local school districts continue to employ school resource officers as I have seen it’s positive impact on students and staff. 😊

Thank you for sharing this, it allows us to see this boy in pure form❤️ it breaks my heart b/c no matter how he lost his life, he was a son & brother. May he Rest In Peace & prayers to his family.

Thank you Chief Murray for sharing Charlie's life with us. We all are quick to judge but we don't know what kids go thru. He sounded like a great kid just made a bad choice, which we all have done. RIP Charlie.

This is devastating and at the same time a beautiful response from YPD and his teacher. These kids need love and support and it truly takes a village. I’m grateful that Charlie has a teacher that saw the best in him and valued him as a student. The polarization of “us” vs “them” ... whoever “them” are is so harmful to our communities. Thank you for coming at this in the opposite spirit and recognizing the loss across the board.

Thank you for humanizing this young man. I don’t live in Yakima, but this post makes me jealous that you have a Chief who is able to reach out to his community is such a wonderful way. Chief saw Charlie as a person not just another statistic.

Thank you for sharing this, Chief Murray. There are two sides to every story. We need compassion because these are our children. Could have been any one of us.

Thanks Chief. You are out to make a difference and I appreciate your efforts 100%. I’d love to see more stories behind the tragedies. I agree as well, I’ve seen gang members show to greatest respect and protection when they are just loved for who they are. I’d love to see us all learn how to love others for who they are. I’m white I’m a parent I struggle with my own teen and I believe there are many factors that lead to people making bad choices in their lives. To blame 1 thing/person would be a tough thing to prove, and why? Why do we want to blame and shame? Could we work on our own bitterness/offenses so that we can possibly love♥️. Either way it’s each of our choices. I choose love as much as I possibly can, I’m human just like you. Thank you for sharing this story ♥️

Thank you Chief Murray for bringing some love back to our community in Yakima. Also much gratitude to our teachers and paraprofessionals out there shepherding and loving on our kids.

May he Rest In Peace🙏 He was a good kid just that he made the wrong choice of joining the gangs. I knew Charlie he was my son’s friend he was a sweet boy and very respectful. We all make mistakes and joining the gangs was one of his but he was a great kid no matter what other people say about him if you didn’t know him don’t disrespect by talking bad about him.

Dear Chief Murray, it takes a great chief and a bigger man to write this. The teacher Mrs. Chance also a great teacher whom saw a child beyond a gang member. I moved out of Yakima county to a small country town to get away from the gangs for my four children. I was born and partially raised in Yakima and it breaks my heart to see how much has changed over the years. I felt my kids had a better chance in life away from Yakima. I still have family and friends there. But this gives me hope someday Yakima might be able to do more for the children so they don’t go into gang violence and maybe some will escape the gangs. Which is not easy and could cause their death. I still remember the first drive by shooting in Yakima and it really bothered me. I worked as a EMT when care ambulance and medic one was up and running. I worked in St. Elizabeth ER too. It’s been years since then and I’ve worked as a Deputy coroner, EMT, Firefighter. So over the years I’ve seen things that I wish I have not. I’m sorry for this young mans senseless death and the families and friends loss. I pray that sometime in our future we see a decrease in gangs and a increase in children being children again. Prayers to your communities. And a special blessing for that teacher, and your Police department. This was a wonderful but sad post.

OMG. Thank you for sharing this so people see the other side of gang life. I'm crying. If we are not all responsible, then nobody is responsible. It takes a village, truly, to raise kids. We never know what their home life is like, what struggles and battles that they face, but they are our future and they deserve a future.

These kind of stories break my heart. Of course my first thought when I hear them is wow what a stupid kid being involved in a gang, he should've known better. But then I stop and think about what happened that made them decide to join the gang in the first place. He was so young & obviously not all bad. We need to do better for these children. RIP Charlie 💔