We should ve been at the beach. It would ve been his first time.
Had it not been for the tragic afternoon of Feb. 12 when gunmen opened fire on Stanley Freeman Jr. as he was leaving his Knoxville high school, he would be spending his 17th birthday on the shores of Panama City Beach, Florida.
Instead, his family gathered Friday at his gravesite to lay a blanket full of his childhood photos with his big, bright smile over his resting place. Together, they tried to make sense of his sudden loss.
In the three months since his passing, Stanley Freeman s family says they have become closer than ever, leaning on each other to cope with the devastating grief. They re working to keep alive the memory of a teen who worked hard at everything he did but was killed in what police say was a case of mistaken identity.
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.
Four Knoxville teenagers have been shot and killed in 2021.
All of them students at Austin-East Magnet High School, though officials have repeatedly said the violence is not associated with the school itself.
The community is shaken by the violence and frustrated at the response from police and elected officials. Neighbors want answers on how to resolve this citywide issue.
Here is a timeline of how the events have happened:
Jan. 27, 2021 Justin Taylor, 15
At about 9:30 p.m., Knoxville Police Department responded to a report of a shooting victim in the parking lot of Western Heights Baptist Center on Scott Avenue. Police found Justin Taylor unresponsive inside a vehicle, suffering from at least one gunshot wound.
Community leaders agree to safety steps after teen shot to death outside high school
The Knoxville News-Sentinel 2/17/2021 Tyler Whetstone, Isabel Lohman and Travis Dorman, Knoxville News Sentinel
Candlelight vigil for Stanley Freeman Jr.
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As the community reels from the shooting death of 16-year-old Austin-East High School student Stanley Freeman Jr., city and county leaders agreed to increase security around the school.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon, Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas and Knoxville Police Chief Eve Thomas also discussed longer-term solutions when they met Monday to talk about solutions.
They agreed on the following:
Austin-East will receive three additional police school resource officers. This will bring the total number of school resource officers at the school to four. The officers’ focus will remain outside the school, city spokeswoman Kristin Farley said, because the city wants to emphasize that