The two teens convicted for the 2021 murder of Stanley Freeman Jr. returned to court Friday, where they were given an additional sentence. Rashon Jordan and Deondre Davis were convicted of first degree murder, which came with an automatic life sentence. For juveniles, a life sentence is 25-36 years.
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Almost three months since the death of Stanley Freeman Jr., an Austin-East Magnet High School student who was gunned down in his car after classes ended, his family has an unambiguous message for school and city officials following the fatal shooting of Anthony Thompson Jr. by a police officer. Anthony wasn t the first student to be killed at Austin-East. Stanley was. He was shot while leaving the parking lot at school, said his grandmother Darlene Ngom. It is also their problem.
Several of Freeman s family members say his death at the hands of two teenage assailants, say police, who also think they mistook him for someone else should have been a wake-up call to those in charge of keeping kids safe.
In Knoxville, a Black high school contends with a massive rise in teen shootings
Constance Every and a student of Austin-East Magnet High School protest the police shooting of Anthony J. Thompson Jr.
(Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)
May 2, 2021 3 AM PT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
The Black community that surrounds Austin-East Magnet High School was still mourning its dead four students gunned down this year when the news broke.
Another shooting, this one inside the school.
With Austin-East in lockdown and police with rifles patrolling the halls, it was hours before officials announced that a fifth student had been fatally shot.
For many, this killing was the hardest to take: The shooter was a police officer, and he was Black.
Stanley Freeman Jr. s grandmother and primary caregiver is grateful arrests have been made in connection with the 16-year old s killing but says there is still a long road ahead.
Authorities announced Monday they had arrested two teenage boys in the fatal shooting of Freeman. The two teens, ages 14 and 16, face charges of first-degree murder, said Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen. Knox News is not identifying the suspects because the newspaper typically does not identify juveniles accused of crimes. He was on a path to fulfill so many hopes and dreams, Freeman s grandmother Darlene Ngom said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. We are very thankful for this first step in bringing Stanley’s murderers to justice. We do know there is a long road ahead, but we are praying for very strict sentencing by charging the defendants as adults. We want this very strict sentencing to affect the thinking and actions of others. Strict sentencing will not bring us Stanley
Knoxville police have arrested two teenage boys in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Austin-East High School student Stanley Freeman Jr., authorities announced Monday.
The two teens, ages 14 and 16, face charges of first-degree murder, said Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen. Knox News is not identifying the suspects because the newspaper typically does not identify juveniles accused of crimes.
Freeman is one of four Black teenagers who have lost their lives to gun violence in Knoxville this year. The string of killings across six weeks left communities hurting, families wanting answers and officials scrambling for solutions to stop the violence.