A 14-year-old boy spraying graffiti on a building Sunday night was fatally struck by the Seattle Center Monorail, the Seattle Police Department announced. 

Reports of a person hit by the train came in just before 9 p.m. Sunday. Both police and Seattle Fire Department personnel responded to the scene, but efforts to save the boy’s life by the fire department failed.

When police reviewed security footage from buildings around the scene, they discovered that the victim had been on the roof of a building spray-painting graffiti when he was struck.

On Monday, authorities confirmed the victim was a 14-year-old boy, but have not disclosed any other identifying information.

The building houses the Law Office of Carol L. Edward. Workers found a backpack on the roof Monday and turned it over to the police.

“Tagging is very frequent. I just never expected anyone to go up on the roof,” Isabel Falcon, a veteran paralegal at the firm, told KING-TV.

Ms. Falcon also opined that lax laws encourage people to spray graffiti on buildings.

“I kind of feel like we’ve kind of given them a green light to tag wherever they want because we’re not criminalizing it,” she elaborated to KING-TV. 

While victims have been struck by Seattle’s light rail system before, Sunday’s incident is the first time a person died from being hit by the Seattle Center Monorail, according to KIRO-TV.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.