On April 29, 12-year-old Alajawan Brown was shot to death in Skyway. Two months later, on July 1, Curtis John Walker will stand before a judge at his arraignment on a first-degree murder charge.

If he’s convicted, the 35-year-old Walker could get 35 to 45 years in prison, effectively a life sentence. Alajawan is serving a death sentence for no other reason than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If prosecutors prove their case, then it’s Walker who turned South 129th Street in Skyway into that wrong place.

Prosecutors allege that Walker shot Alajawan in the back. Alajawan, who was black, was shot because he was big for his age and he just happened to walk by where a violent shootout had occurred. Walker was looking for revenge for the shooting of a friend; he made Alajawan the target of his rage with nothing to go on other than his race.

Everyone involved in the shootout at the Cedar Village Apartments was black, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

“He was targeted because of what he looked like and the neighborhood he was in,” said Sheriff Sue Rahr in joining county Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, in announcing the charges against Walker last week.

Satterberg described Walker as a “violent felon.” County prosecutors had argued – unsuccessfully – against a shortened prison sentence for a drug conviction for Walker. At the time of his arrest, Walker was under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections.

Rahr couldn’t let something go by, saying “supervision” was probably not an accurate term. Rahr argues that state budget cuts make it harder for the corrections department to supervise such felons as Walker.

All Ayanna and Louis Brown, Alajawan’s parents, know is that Curtis John Walker was on the streets, that prosecutors say he killed their son.

Rahr had hoped to give Ayanna a Mother’s Day present – news of an arrest.

That special day for a mother who had rushed to the shooting scene fearful for her son’s life passed. But the murder charge came just before Louis Brown celebrated Father’s Day.

Ayanna Brown, of course, is grateful that someone is in custody for the shooting death of her son. But she still wonders why the case wasn’t broken by someone who witnessed the shooting at the apartment complex. It’s a simple question, with a complex answer.

We owe a thanks to that watchful citizen who witnessed a crime – a hit-and-run accident – and decided she had the power to bring justice to that victim by getting a license plate number. She probably did so thinking there was little risk to herself. What she didn’t know, of course, was in that black Cadillac was a man who weeks later would be charged with killing a 12-year-old boy.

But because of her diligence and an alert security guard at a bank facility, a Renton Police officer found the gun in an open field in southwest Renton prosecutors allege was used to kill Alajawan.

Then, take those who witnessed the shootout and could name those involved. Their fear of retaliation overtook any impulse to do their civic duty and provide key information to police about the violent argument that preceded Alajawan’s murder. Luckly, a security camera knows no fear; it caught most of the shootout at the apartment complex.

And let’s not forget those who saw Alajawan shot or heard the gunfire or saw a silver gun in a nearby car not far from that apartment complex. All their stories helped point police toward Walker.

Even until the end, the fates could have kept Alajawan alive.

What if the Alajawan had turned, to face a man he didn’t even know had a gun pointing at him. Would the shooter have seen his innocent young eyes? Would it have registered that despite his size, Alajawan was only a youngster, even if the shooter couldn’t place a number to his age?

In any case, what drives anyone to shoot someone in the back? A back isn’t threatening, like angry eyes and a raised gun.