Seattle Public Schools students returned to class Wednesday, including those at Garfield High School.

Students there are still reeling over the death of 17-year-old Amarr Murphy-Paine. Murphy-Paine was gunned down on campus during the lunch hour in June.

“We still are very much thinking about Amarr and the affects that’s had on the community. But, coming back into this, the mood isn’t as somber as it was at the end of school last year,” one Garfield senior said to KIRO Newsradio.

Previous coverage: Parents expected to support students returning to Garfield following deadly shooting

Meanwhile, the school shooting in Georgia that left two students and two teachers dead has reopened wounds, and some students are angry.

“This has been a trend, for what, the past two decades? Every other developed nation doesn’t have to deal with this. So, why are we still lagging behind? We’re the best country out there,” another student said.

More from Georgia: 4 dead, 9 injured and suspect arrested in high school shooting

Securing students at Garfield High School in Seattle

On the campus Wednesday, there was a highly visible security presence. There was an Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer sitting in the parking lot for most of the day. Two private security officers could be seen patrolling the campus, and members of the organization Community Passageways, some of them parents of Garfield students, on the scene at lunch time to help make sure students are safe.

“We feel like we’re part of the community so we come out to do whatever we can to provide whatever support, and to use whatever leverage we have to provide other avenues of thinking for these young folks,” Garfield parent and Community Passageways Member Ted Evans said.

Community Passageways’ mission is to create alternatives to incarceration for youth and young adults by rebuilding communities through committed relationships centered on love, compassion and consistency.

“We think it’s important to build relationships with these young folks so hopefully it carries on in their lives, so we’ll have space to be able to speak to them,” Evans said.

In the wake of the shooting of Murphy-Paine, parents and invested community organizations pledged to help keep curb violence near the school. It’s a pledge they take seriously as their presence here today demonstrates.

In the meantime, students just want to feel safe.

“Everybody is just glad to see their friends after summer and to not have had anymore losses. And we’re hoping this sticks out through the rest of the school year,” one Garfield senior said to KIRO Newsradio.

James Lynch is a reporter at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of James’ stories here. Follow James on X, or email him here.

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The Seattle Mariners came into Wednesday’s game against the Oakland Athletics on a four-game losing streak. All those games were one-run losses and three were walk-offs. Whether it was frustration over how the last four days had went or simply a motivation to right the ship, Seattle didn’t give Oakland a chance to do the same thing thrice.

The Mariners put up a season-high in runs and snapped their four-game skid with a 16-3 win against the Athletics on Wednesday. It was the most runs scored by Seattle in a single game since a comeback win against the San Diego Padres on June 6, 2016.

The Mariners gained a game on the Astros and moved to 5.5 games behind them in the American League West. They’re still 5.5 games out of the third AL Wild Card with the win. Seattle improved to 70-70 on the year.

“A lot of positives tonight. Up and down the lineup,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Wednesday. ” … Offensively, we did a ton of great stuff up and down the lineup. Huge game for (Mitch Garver) — (Luis Urias) as well. Just some great at-bats all around. Using the other field, some great two-strike at bats. We’ve been talking a lot about the effort being there all week. These guys continued to fight and today was a great way for them to be able to bust out. A lot of positives everywhere.”

The Athletics got in front first after Brent Rooker hit an RBI single in the bottom of the opening inning.

It was one of a pair of blemishes for Seattle starting pitcher George Kirby. He had his first quality start since Aug. 18 after going six innings pitched and allowing six hits and two earned runs. He struck out nine batters and didn’t let up a free base.

Garver pulled the Mariners back in front with a two-run double in the top of the second and had an RBI single one inning later to put Seattle up 3-1. Garver’s single kick started one of several multi-run innings for the Mariners. Urias had an RBI double and Dylan Moore had an RBI single to bolster Seattle’s advantage to 5-1.

JJ Bleday gave Oakland its second run with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth.

The Mariners second multi-run inning came in the top of the seventh. Urias had a solo home run, Julio Rodriguez had an RBI single, Randy Arozarena had a two-run double, Victor Robles brought in a score with a single, Urias was walked with the bases loaded and Moore brought in another score with a sacrifice fly. By the end of the inning, Seattle owned a 12-2 lead.

Zack Gelof scored the Athletics’ third and final run in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of a Max Schuemann ground out.

Then Seattle put the cherry on top of its season-high offensive showcase with four more runs in the top of the eighth.

Robles had a two-RBI double, Garver brought Justin Turner in with a ground out and Urias had an RBI double for the eventual final of 16-3.

The bottom four batters in the Mariners’ order (Robles, Garver, Urias, Moore) combined for 13 RBIs on 10 hits. Urias and Robles both went 3-for-4 and every single batter in Seattle’s lineup recorded a base hit.

As good as Wednesday was for Seattle, it doesn’t erase the previous four games on the road trip. Four one-run losses hurt, espeically this late in the season.

But with 22 games left, maybe Wednesday can be something of a blueprint for the Mariners to follow to avoid close games in the future and take advantage of their weak schedule.

Seattle will hope to come out of its last-ever series at Oakland Coliseum with a split. The Mariners will play the Athletics in a series finale at 12:37 p.m. PT on Thursday.

Bryan Woo will get the start in the series finale.

ATHLETICS WALK-OFF MARINERS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT GAME: The Seattle Mariners lost 3-2 to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday; It was Seattle’s fourth-consecutive loss — all by one run. CLICK HERE

RALEY PROVING HIS WORTH FOR SEATTLE: Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh could join Hall of Famer Gary Carter in a very exclusive category. CLICK HERE

RALEIGH SETS MARINERS HISTORY: Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh passed Dan Wilson in an impressive stat during Tuesday’s loss against the Oakland Athletics. CLICK HERE

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @wdevradiobrady

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Mike Morris saw the field for all of one game because of an injury in his rookie season. Not a lot of time to make an impression on his teammates.

When word leaked out about Mike Macdonald becoming the new coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Morris’ phone erupted making him maybe the most popular player in the locker room.

“It was like, ‘Mike, did he coach you in college?’ And I was like, ‘yeah.’ I got a bunch of those text messages,” Morris recalled. “My mom and dad called me and was like ‘how do you feel about it?’ I was like, ‘I’m really excited.’”

Morris isn’t the only one excited about Macdonald and the possibilities of what could happen in his first season as the Seahawks head coach.

The franchise that employed Pete Carroll for 14 seasons and who had the oldest head coach in the league last year, went the opposite direction hiring Macdonald as the youngest coach in the league at age 37 and with no head coaching experience at any level.

Macdonald is a football nerd, in the most complimentary way. He worked his magic as a defensive coordinator at Michigan — where he coached Morris — before returning to the place where his NFL career started in Baltimore and turned the Ravens defense into one of the most successful and difficult to decipher in the league the past two seasons.

“Yeah, he’s smart. He doesn’t know how smart he is,” Seattle linebacker Tyrel Dodson said. “That guy is just so smart. I thought I was smart. He blows me out of the water.”

But running a team is far different than running a defense. And despite his relative inexperience, those around him in Seattle have been impressed thus far with how Macdonald has taken to the role.

“I just think Mike’s a great listener. He really is, he can take that information in and make decisions,” Seattle general manager John Schneider said. “It’s been really impressive to watch. Like I said, he’s a very direct communicator. He’s going to give me the information, I got it, I’m going to take it over here and I’m going to have the conversation and we’re going to move on.”

Macdonald will make his head coaching debut on Sunday when the Seahawks open at home against the Denver Broncos. He’s now the face of the franchise, although he doesn’t seek the spotlight that comes with being the youngest coach in the league.

He’d rather be in a film room or on the practice field “chasing edges,” — one of the tag phrases he’s latched onto describing what he’s trying to create with the Seahawks.

“We’re always trying to push the envelope. We want people chasing us,” Macdonald said. “So to kind of get to the mentality of we’re not copying anybody it’s going to be our style of play, it’s going to be our team, our way of doing things, never satisfied with where we’re at, no complacency. Kind of a relentless pursuit of creating the vision that we want to create. I think that kind of paints a nice picture.”

While Macdonald is more out front now as a head coach, his defensive mind is what put him on the radar of every team that was seeking a new leader this past offseason.

The Ravens led the league in fewest points allowed and sacks, and were tied for the league lead in takeaways last season. They held six teams to 10 points or fewer in the regular season, including a 37-3 thumping of the Seahawks.

Disguise and creating confusion were the keys to the success in Baltimore, and what Macdonald is trying to implement now with a Seahawks defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in nearly every category last season. The system isn’t overly complicated, but there is a high level of communication and understanding of what everyone else is doing to make the coverage disguises work.

Seattle played an overwhelmingly vanilla defense during the preseason. The first test of how successful it could be comes Sunday.

“I enjoy this defense because I think it’s fun,” Seattle safety Julian Love said. “It’s not monotonous, you’re not just getting to the post. You’re doing different things. The flip side of that you have to be on your stuff.”

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