Memorial for Seattle man killed while asleep on the bus vandalized

The memorial for a young Seattle man killed while riding the bus has been vandalized multiple times, with the perpetrators even going so far as to remove his photo from the center of the display.

Marcel Wagner, 21, was gunned down by a total stranger as he slept on the Metro RapidRide H Line on his way home in October.

As KOMO News reports, the memorial was set up on a tree next to a King County Metro bus stop in the White Center neighborhood shortly after Wagner was murdered. 

His mother called it "Marcel's Tree," saying that while he was physically gone, it symbolized "where he's at for me, and where I can feel him at."

She was dismayed to find that the memorial, made with objects and photos left by her and other members of their family, had become the target of a series of attacks.

Vandals first made off with the red wooden hearts that had been affixed to the tree, and after the Wagners added Christmas decorations, those, too, were removed or destroyed.

The perpetrators even detached the plastic used to protect the memorial from the elements, and eventually ripped off the photo of Marcel itself.

"It just felt like he was dying all over again," Wagner's mother told KOMO News, "like he was being taken away all over again."

"It hurts for someone to come and take away that love," she added. "I'm not gonna stop putting stuff up on Marcel's Tree because this is now his tree."

The shooting took place shortly after 5pm on October 3. While Wagner slept, 17-year-old Miguel Rivera Dominguez allegedly fired five rounds at what KOMO News described as "point blank range."

Following the shooting, Dominguez fled the scene, and was on the run for a month before turning himself in. He was subsequently charged with first degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, and is currently being held on $3 million bail.