Father whose son was killed in Seattle “CHOP” zone gets call from Trump

On the day he buried his 19-year-old son, who was gunned down in Seattle’s lawless ‘CHOP’ zone, Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr. got a phone call from President Trump, who had been moved by his heart-wrenching appearance the night before on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.”

Anderson’s son, Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr., was killed in the early hours of June 20, when shots rang out near the border of the six-block zone the city had given up for three chaotic weeks. In the emotional interview with Sean Hannity, a tearful Anderson said he hadn’t been able to get answers from the city about his son’s death, and disclosed that he had not even been contacted by Mayor Jenny Durkan.

But, the mayor, a Democrat, did reach out to Anderson later Wednesday, and a call from Trump followed later.

“We just talked to the president of the United States,” Anderson’s friend and family spokesman Andre Taylor, who took part in Wednesday’s interview, told Fox News. “How are you going to top that?”

Taylor said Trump told Anderson he saw his interview with Hannity Wednesday night and was moved by the grieving father’s grace in the face of tragedy. In what Taylor said was a seven-minute call, Trump offered his condolences and support.

“He said he watched ‘Hannity’ last night, and told Horace, ‘Your son is looking down on you and watching over you,’” Taylor recounted. “He was incredibly gracious, and it gave Horace some extra help as he buried his son.”

In the interview, Anderson described his son as good-hearted but easily influenced. He said he took some solace in knowing that he often told the boy, who he took full custody of at age 2,  that he loved him. But, when he described the pain of learning through the grapevine that his son was dead, he broke down, as Taylor comforted him.

“The only way I found out was just two of his friends, just two friends that just happened to be up there, and they came and told me,” he said. “They weren’t even from Seattle. Now, mind you, I haven’t heard --  the police department, they never came.”

Compounding the father’s grief were reports that first responders who came to the CHOP zone to transport the shooting victims to the hospital encountered an angry mob that denied them entry. The pair were taken to Harborview Medical Center by self-described “CHOP medics,” and Anderson’s son was pronounced dead on arrival.

“My son needed help, and I don’t feel like they helped my son," Anderson said. “I feel like he doesn’t -- without this, he would just be nobody. He’s just -- it doe... (Read more)

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