Flowers, hearts and long strings of white and blue crepe paper marked the spot where 18-year-old Mordeice "Mo" Adams took his last breath.


The makeshift memorial was created by about a dozen of Adams' friends and family, who gathered in the front yard of the northeast Yakima home where he was shot in the chest early Tuesday.


Adams, a former Davis High School football player, was attending a party at a friend's home in the 300 block of North Seventh Street when he was confronted by three men with blue bandanas over their faces about 12:30 a.m. Moments later, after a brief struggle, he was shot with a pistol, according to Yakima police.

"He was saying help me, please help me," said neighbor John Sandall, who heard the shots and came running around the corner where he found people already administering first aid to Adams. "It was the last thing he said ... then I heard him take his last breath.

"There's so much stuff that goes on in this neighborhood, it's scary to live here."

A man named Devon, who did not want his last name used, said he was sitting on the porch when he saw the three masked men walking south on Seventh Street toward the house. Concerned, he went inside to warn others when Adams walked past him, he said.

Moments later, Devon said he heard the shot.

"I knew if I had stayed out there, I would have been shot," Devon said. "They were looking for trouble.

"They were looking to kill somebody."

Devon said the masked men took off on foot and were last seen by someone in the house running down a nearby
alley. Police closed down North Seventh Street between East D Street and East Lincoln Avenue while they searched for several hours.

Yakima police spokesman Capt. Greg Copeland said it appears Adams did not have any gang ties, although it is unclear whether his assailants might.

One woman at the memorial, who identified herself as "Auntie Tia," said Adams had been very close to her two sons and was not a gang member.

She said Adams always talked about finishing his education, despite no longer attending Davis.

The victim's father, Dan Masters, said Tuesday night that his son had enrolled at Yakima Valley Community College to work toward getting his GED.

According to Adams' Myspace Webpage, he played basketball, football and ran track. He also said his high school diploma was "in progress" and hoped to have children someday.

"He was at the wrong place at the wrong time," Masters said.

The grieving woman who called herself Auntie Tia expressed hope that whoever killed Adams would be apprehended.

"Give us some information," she pleaded, crying. "Give police some information.

"He wasn't a gang-banger."

Former Yakima Mayor Henry Beauchamp stopped by to offer his condolences to the family. Beauchamp said he knows the Adams family although he did not know the victim personally.

"It's just sad, kids killing kids, families grieving," he said. "One of them is dead and probably someone else apprehended at some point.

"I just hope we can get past all of this."

This is the second time in the last several weeks that someone was shot in the same area of North Seventh Street. On Jan. 28 in the 400 block of North Seventh, assailants in a car fired three shots, hitting a 16-year-old boy in the abdomen. Police identified the boy as a known gang member.

The victim was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment of a spinal cord injury, and investigators said he was expected to survive. An update of his condition was not available, and police have made no arrests in that case.

Tuesday's shooting marks the fourth homicide this year in Yakima County, and the second in the city.