Nearly a year ago, Shalisa Hayes’ oldest son told her about his dream to build a community center on Tacoma’s East Side.

Billy Ray Shirley III saw the need in his neighborhood and enjoyed giving back to his neighbors.

“He wanted to help kids in his community,” Hayes said of her 17-year-old son. “If they are so focused on the positive, they don’t have time for the negative.”

Eight months later, Shirley was gunned down at an after-hours party at a warehouse-style building in Nalley Valley.

His death is the only unsolved homicide in Tacoma in 2011. Police investigated 14 homicides last year and cleared 13. Most were resolved through arrests; others were labeled justifiable because the killings were in self-defense. So far in 2012, there have been two homicides locally, one in Tacoma and one in Pierce County, both believed to be committed by men who later killed themselves.

Within days of her son’s death, Hayes decided to take up his cause.

Now, building a community center in her son’s memory has become her passion. She’s set up a website and a foundation and is selling memorabilia, working with kids on fundraisers and talking to community groups, organizations and public officials.

“I have a whole box full of cards from people I have met with,” Hayes, 36, said last week. “It is amazing.”

She balances the demands with her full-time job as supervisor with Regence BlueShield and raising her younger son, 12-year-old Ja’Mez Person.

City Councilman Marty Campbell has met with Hayes several times and supports the concept of a new community center.

“She’s an absolutely amazing person who has an incredible vision, and I have no doubt she will make it come true,” Campbell said of Hayes. “She’s not allowing herself to be the victim.”

Homicide detective Brian Vold is plugging away at Shirley’s case but has some frustrations. Despite numerous interviews, he has no description of the gunman.

“There is nobody yet who has stepped forward and admitted to seeing part of the shooting,” Vold said recently. “There are people that must have seen something.”

Shirley was killed after he and two friends went to a gathering in the 1600 block of Center Street early on Aug. 17. One of the friends thought his mother needed a ride home.

When they got inside, the teens realized the mother didn’t need a lift.

“Unfortunately, they should have left, but they didn’t,” Vold said. He gave this account of what happened next:

The teens hung out with the 100 or so others inside the building, which in the past had hosted regular after-hours events with few problems, police reported. (It has since closed.)

Shirley and his friends were the youngest people at the party. Most of the patrons were in their mid-20s and older.

Trouble started about 5 a.m. when one of the friends got into an argument with another patron inside the club. A fight broke out, and Shirley was punched in the face. People started pouring out of the party.

Shirley and one of his friends left as well. Once outside, however, they realized their buddy was still inside and went back to get him. After finding him, the teens walked down a dark hallway toward an exit.

Someone came up behind them and opened fire. Shirley, who was days away from starting his senior year of high school, was struck in the back and died. He was the only one hit.

“Billy was not an aggressor at all in any way, shape or form in any aspect of it,” Vold said.

In the parking lot, someone else fired a gun. Vold doesn’t believe it was Shirley’s killer.

Hayes keeps in touch with the detective. She wants the gunman found and believes it will happen eventually.

“To me, I look at it as things happen for a reason and when it’s time, it will happen,” she said.

In the meantime, she’s focused on making Shirley’s dream come true and working with kids.

“I focus on the positive,” Hayes said. “I find comfortable that (Vold) is doing what he is suppose to be doing and I am doing what I am suppose to be doing, and that is building this community center.”

HEART OF GOLD

Shirley started giving back to his community when he was a child.

“He was born with this heart of gold,” said Hayes, who instilled in him the importance of community.

Shirley’s first volunteer effort was cleaning up a park. Later, he joined Peace Out, a nonprofit organization that helps teens raise awareness and money for charities.

He also spent his own money on school supplies and rounded up donated clothing for a fellow student.

Shirley’s death has inspired friends and others to get involved in volunteer work. Peace Out sponsored seven students to go through its program in honor of Shirley. Two decided to raise money for the Billy Ray Shirley III Foundation.

“It wasn’t a big amount, but their heart was in it,” said Michelle McLean, executive director of Peace Out.

Hayes wants to harness her son’s dedication to volunteer work and philanthropy and pass it along.

She and other teens have held an event every month since Shirley’s death. They’ve had car washes and rummage sales to raise money for the community center. They cleaned up a park in the rain. They also gave out 64 turkeys to needy families around Thanksgiving.

Some friends also come over to Hayes’ house and hang out with Shirley’s younger brother.

Hayes said she has heard from others who want to help, including a student at Western Washington University, a kid on the East Coast and a woman in Germany.

“It’s amazing to see what kids will do,” she said. “The kids’ support … is actually what keeps me going.”

Hayes also has been attending community meetings and spreading the word about the community center and her son’s foundation.

“I walk into these meetings and I am just a mom,” Hayes said.

The vision for the community center is just developing. Hayes plans to have a meeting soon with kids and others to draw up plans for what they want the center to look like.

“That will give us something visual to look at,” Hayes said.

Small fundraisers and merchandise sales have raised a little more than $3,000 so far toward the project. No large-scale fundraising has been attempted.

“The funding is difficult,” Hayes said. “That’s our biggest barrier.”

Campbell said they are looking at the Zina Linnik Project for inspiration.

Classmates of the slain 12-year-old Hilltop girl designed renovations for two city parks and spearheaded a grass-roots effort to raise money for them. The $3.5 million campaign concluded in May with the opening of a new playground and spraypark in Wright Park and the renovated McCarver Park.

“There is a lot of inspiration that can be taken from that,” Campbell said. “None of us have ever built a community center before, but we will.”

Hayes said she will work on the center until the day she dies. She told mourners at her son’s funeral that his dream will come true.

When that happens, she intends to quit her job to be at the center.

“This is lifelong for me,” Hayes said. “In his memory, I got to do it.”

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268
stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime