Amanda Osborne has revealed her son’s haunting final promise just days before he was killed.
The Thurston County mother told KING5 in a Thursday interview that Kaleb Osborne, 17, made an eerie vow before heading out on Sept. 6. “The last promise he made was that he wouldn’t get shot,” she said. The teenager was fatally shot in the head and back that night in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood while attempting to break up a heated fight at an illegal street takeover.
Osborne was unable to view her son’s body until Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the shooting. “That was the first time since he hugged me goodbye that I got to see him. I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve been through,” she told the station.
The grieving mother described the milestones now stolen from her. “I don’t get to see him graduate, I don’t get to see him get married, I don’t get to see his babies. All I have is a lock of his hair. That’s all I have of him.”
Kaleb had been living with his mother in Yelm, where friends gathered with Amanda at a hillside lookout on Bald Hill Road known locally as “Sunset.” Kyle Scharpf, a safety and preservation activist who mentors youth at the popular hangout, had taken Kaleb under his wing. “The kid was lost, a lot of kids are lost, especially at that age,” Scharpf said. “I remember being that age and it was rough.”
Scharpf watched Kaleb transform through their work maintaining the site, which draws crowds for its views and party atmosphere. “I watched a kid go from a tarnished reputation to getting job offers and people liking him,” he said. “It was such a monumental achievement for him to step forward from his position and reclaim a title.”
Pal Tanner Wilks told KING5 that Kaleb’s love of cars drew him to the Belltown gathering, where drivers block roads to perform stunts. “Kaleb was like a younger brother to me,” Wilks said. He explained that the teen stepped into danger trying to calm tensions. “Kaleb was trying to de-escalate the situation,” Wilks said. “He was trying to protect and calm things down and be a peacemaker in a situation that got out of hand.”
Amanda remembered her only son as her closest companion and a born helper. “If he knew someone was hurting, he tried to make you happy. He tried to do anything to make you smile. He was a goofball. He was so funny,” she said. “He was always behind me. It was me and him. He was my best friend, I just miss him so very much.”
She wants Kaleb remembered for his joy and connection to nature. “This was my son’s favorite place,” Amanda said at Sunset, surrounded by his friends. “All of his friends used to hang out here. This is how I want everyone to remember my son. This beautiful place. He was beautiful. He loved nature. He loved life.”
A fundraiser has been established to cover funeral costs. Amanda plans to install a memorial bench at the hillside spot Kaleb cherished.