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.
Family and friends remember Stanley Freeman Jr. on his 17th birthday
Stanley Freeman Jr. was shot and killed in February. Friends and family gathered at his grave on the day of his 17th birthday. Author: WBIR Staff Updated: 10:04 PM EDT May 21, 2021
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. It was Stanley Freeman Jr. s 17th birthday on Friday. Even though family and friends gathered at his grave to remember the teen who died due to gun violence in February, they made sure there were still balloons. Even though little Stan is no longer with us, being 17 would have been a very important birthday for him and we just wanted to come out and show that we really miss him, said Clifford Bishop, his uncle.
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Anthony Thompson Jr. was the fifth Austin-East Magnet High School student to die from gun violence this year.
CNN
(CNN) The Rev. Calvin Skinner has given hundreds of sermons, but he says this past Sunday’s felt more urgent than ever.
“The city of Knoxville has hit its boiling point,” he told CNN. “The case of Anthony Thompson Jr. really solidifies this feeling that enough is enough.”
Thompson, 17, was fatally shot by police when officers said they tried to disarm him inside a bathroom at Austin-East Magnet High School on April 12. He was the fifth Black student from that school to die due to gun violence this year.
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Lawrence Muhammad didn t hear the gunfire outside his family s East Knoxville home that February evening. He didn t know what had happened until he found his son in a state of panic and asked, in a heart-stopping moment: Where s your sister?
Muhammad went outside and found 15-year-old Janaria there, shot and bleeding badly at the bottom of the steps behind their house. He tried to keep her alive, but he couldn t save his daughter.
Janaria was pronounced dead at the hospital Feb. 16, the third of five teenagers to lose their lives to gun violence in Knoxville this year.
Nearly three months later, Janaria Muhammad s killing remains unsolved. So, too, does the March 9 shooting of 15-year-old Jamarion Gillette, who was found late that night by a passerby on the road leading to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. He died overnight from a still-unexplained gunshot wound.