SPOKANE, Wash. — In the early morning hours of Aug. 27, Spokane police responded to calls of shots fired at Franklin Park.
When officers arrived, they found three people injured and one person dead. The man laying dead on the ground was identified as 22-year-old Ablos Kios.
According to family member Lial Amram, Kios was supposed to be at Friendship Park at the time of the shooting.
"He was supposed to be here that night after work with his friends," Amram explained. "Here, at Friendship Park."
But just before 4 a.m., Kios ended up at Franklin Park where he was shot and killed.
"My mom got the call," Amram recalls. "She woke me up and the first thing she said was 'he's been shot and he's at the park.' The first park I immediately came to was Franklin Park, at that time, four in the morning."
When Amram didn't see the police activity her mom told her she would find, she called her back to get more information.
"I went back home and called my mom like, 'Hey, what park were you talking about? She's like, Franklin Park, I'm like, No, that's not right,'" Amram said.
Amram said she was thrown off because Franklin Park wasn't a place someone could normally find Kios.
"It's not a frequent place that we would be or he would be,” Amram said.
Amram described Kios as a family member who was like a brother to her. She said her and Kios' families are extremely close. She grew up with him when he moved from the Marshall Islands to Spokane in 2013. She said he was athletic, loved to sing and someone who she could always go to for a listening ear.
"He would never argue with me and he would just listen to any problems and you could vent to him and he would listen to you," Amram said. "He never got into an argument with anyone."
In his death, Amram said she wants people to know their families' truth about Kios.
“He was a good person, he had a good heart and a long life to live," Amram said. "But he was too young. And all these rumors that we're hearing, say he was in a gang, he might have caught up in this and that. I just want to put it out there. He was never in that. And he could never.”
Kios leaves behind his friends, family and two children, including his son Amram said was born Monday.
"He touched all of our lives, even people around us that were not close family, they're just friends, they still can't believe it too," Amram said. "He touched all of our lives that he's gone. It's just too real.”
Amram said her family is planning to lay Kios to rest Saturday. She said if there was one final thing she could tell him, she would let him know how much she wanted to live longer with him.
“I wish you were here to see your baby and now live long with us," Amram said. "I just wish you were here.”
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