S.F. mom hears gunfire, then her son was dead
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, March 13, 2009
(03-12) 23:57 PDT San Francisco --
When Debbie Ellis heard gunfire outside her window, she figured it was just another Friday night in the troubled Bayview-Hunters Point.
She had no idea that her son, 17-year-old Damija Walls, who had just finished hauling in groceries for his cousin, had been hit on nearby Northridge Road.
Someone in a group of men, apparently out for gang vengeance, opened fire on March 6, hitting Walls - who was not a gang member - in the head. He died Sunday after lingering on life support until his organs could be harvested.
"When I heard the gunshots Friday night, I didn't think it was my son," Ellis said Thursday. "They shoot every other night around here."
Ellis said she looked out and saw as many as six men, wearing knit caps and hooded sweatshirts, fleeing across Kiska Road. She said the gunman fired down Kiska Road as he fled. He hopped a fence nearby. Police have made no arrests.
Walls' cousin, who asked not to be named, had to break the news to Ellis.
He said Thursday that he and Walls were part of a half dozen people outside when one of several men walked up and fired once, then fired four or more shots in quick succession.
"They didn't say nothing. We were just out there talking," he said, adding that he scrambled for cover and then managed to get everyone he could inside. He suddenly realized Walls was not safe. He said he went outside and saw what was Walls' last breath, then told Walls' mother he wished he could have protected him.
Ellis said the constant gunfire haunts her. She said she heard shots on Wednesday.
"Every time I hear a gunshot, it reminds me of my son," she said.
Homicide Inspector Michael Johnson said police have few leads in the death.
"I don't think he was the target, he was not a gang member," Johnson said.
Police said Walls was shot in the head and never regained consciousness.
Johnson said the shooting may have been another incident in a recent feud between local gangs that had involved shootings in the area that resulted in no injuries or deaths.
There had been a fight earlier in the day at that same location, Johnson said. "We don't know what triggered it. It doesn't take much for these people to do what they do. It could be a real or imagined slight."
Ellis was comforted when hospital officials told her that her son's liver saved someone's life. But she shook her head at the violence.
"My son was a good kid," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "He wasn't into no gangs."
Damija, who lived with his parents, loved sports and going fishing with his father, Ellis said.
Damija's mother said she took him out of John O'Connell High School because he was being harassed by gang members upset that he wouldn't join their gang. She said she was trying to find a safe school for him to attend.
"I just don't know what's wrong with these kids - it's too much. It's dangerous. I've been here 18 years," she said.
"I just hope nobody else has to go through what me and my husband are going through now."
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