From the Seattle Times:
When 20-year-old Nicholas Helhowski decided to trade his life on Seattle's streets for a life of advocacy, college and maybe running his own business someday, he dutifully traded his mohawk, piercings and punk-rock duds for a suit and a tie.
But underneath, there would always be Rooster, the cocky street kid from Capitol Hill. Just as the tattoos on his arms would always record his days with his old Broadway crew, he would never forget what it meant to be homeless, friends said.
And he devoted his time to making sure the voices of those friends were heard.
"No matter where he was, he was always there for me — he fed me when I really needed food, and he was doing a lot for the homeless people up here," said a young man named Johnny, also known as "Snowflake," as he panhandled in the rain on Broadway yesterday. "He was a very noble individual."
Last Thursday night, after Helhowski got off a bus near his home in North Seattle, two men attacked him and beat him unconscious, police said. He died of massive head injuries Sunday evening at Harborview Medical Center.
Now Seattle police are asking the public to help find his killers.
News of Helhowski's slaying rippled from the sidewalks on Broadway to City Hall, stinging everyone from street kids to cops, from homeless advocates to Mayor Greg Nickels.
"The mayor vividly remembers him and feels deeply saddened," said Marianne Bichsel, Nickels' spokeswoman, "It's just a tragic situation that this would happen to somebody who was trying to do so much good for the homeless situation."
Seattle homicide detectives say they have several leads in the case but could use more.
About 10:20 p.m. Thursday, as he was riding home on Metro route 16 with a female friend, Helhowski got into an argument with two young men on the bus, police said. When Helhowski and his friend got off the bus at North 85th Street and Wallingford Avenue North, the men and two teenage girls followed.
The argument escalated, and the two men attacked Helhowski, hitting him repeatedly in the head, according to police. He fell, cracked his head on the pavement and was knocked out. The attackers ran away.
Police believe the men, identified as Hispanics ages 17 to 23, had gotten on the bus downtown at Fifth Avenue and Mercer Street. One was thin, with a blue-and-red ball cap and a full goatee. The other was a bit heavier, with long black hair and a light-colored shirt.
Helhowski was taken to Harborview Medical Center, and there he slipped into a coma. Dozens of friends, including both the homeless and city leaders, held a vigil at the hospital until he died about 7 p.m. Sunday.
Police are hoping the teenage girls will come forward so they will be considered witnesses instead of suspects, spokesman Duane Fish said.
Anyone with information is urged to call Seattle police at 206-684-5550.
A memorial is planned for 7 tonight at the Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS) center at 1411 E. Olive Way on Capitol Hill, which had helped Helhowski get off the streets.
"There will be everyone from gutter punks to assistant police chiefs there," predicted Officer Kim Bogucki of the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct. "Everyone is deeply affected. It's not just another kid who died. He did in 20 years more than most people do in a lifetime."
It took only two years for Helhowski to go from the streets to seats on the mayor's panels and City Council commissions.
Helhowski had been a high-school-basketball star in Chicago. He had turned down a college scholarship.
Instead, he moved to Seattle and became Rooster, a 6-foot-4-inch, charismatic leader among Capitol Hill's street kids.
Yesterday, Johnny yanked off his dirty sweat shirt to show off the gray, skull-and-crossbones tattoo that he said matched one that Helhowski had needled onto his body as a sign of street brotherhood.
"He was real," Johnny added. "He wasn't plastic at all, and that meant the world to a lot of us. I'm going to miss him a lot."
Helhowski also made fast friends with community leaders and neighborhood police officers like Bogucki, who saw a fierce intelligence and ambition behind the punk veneer. When Helhowski showed up at community forums, people listened.
About a year ago, new dreams stirred in Helhowski, friends said.
"When I met him, he was tattooed, Mohawk hair, very much the street person, but always very interested, quick and smart," said Jordan Royer, the son of former Mayor Charles Royer and the head of the city's Neighborhood Action Team, of which Helhowski was a member.
"He decided to turn his life around, and he started to look more like Frank Sinatra than the Sex Pistols."
Helhowski joined Americorps and moved off the street into the M.J. Harder House, a transitional center for homeless youth in North Seattle. With the neckties came an idea that he would someday open his own Chicago-style pizza restaurant.
So he approached Barry Rogel, owner of the Deluxe Bar and Grill on Broadway, and persisted until Rogel agreed to mentor the young man.
"He had a vision for himself," Rogel said. "He said, 'I want to be successful. I want to buy into that whole American-dream thing.' "
Meantime, Helhowski's enthusiasm for volunteer work continued to snowball. Earlier this year, the City Council named him to the city's Music and Youth Commission. But he always stayed close to his friends on the street.
He was eyeballing local community colleges, thinking about seeking a basketball scholarship. He was hoping to move out of the transitional housing into a house with normal college kids.
"He was beyond transitioning," Bogucki said.
"He had transitioned. I just don't think he realized how many lives he touched."