KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Two teens, age 16 and 14, face charges related to three separate shootings including the death of an Austin-East Magnet High School student.
The two were arrested last month on two counts of attempted first-degree murder for a January shooting and now face charges related to the Feb. 12 shooting death of 16-year-old Stanley Freeman Jr. and a Feb. 7 shooting.
A third suspect is also charged in the Feb. 7 shooting.
Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen made the announcement Monday evening alongside Knoxville Police Chief Eve Thomas and Mayor Indya Kincannon.
The two teens were originally arrested for a shooting that occurred around 2:30 p.m. Jan. 14 along Magnolia Avenue and Cherry Street. In that shooting, a vehicle occupied by a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman was shot at. Multiple rounds were fired, but no one was injured.
Evidence gathered in that shooting linked the shooting suspects to the shooting death of Freeman.
Freeman was shot Feb. 12 while driving outside of Austin-East Magnet High School. He was found unresponsive in a crashed vehicle on Wilson Avenue.
The two suspects were arrested Feb. 16, four days after the death of Freeman.
“This is just a really difficult, tragic case,” Thomas said. “By all accounts he was a good kid, who was simply leaving school for the day.”
The 16 and 14-year-old suspects are facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Freeman; two counts each of attempted murder and using a firearm during a dangerous felony from the Feb. 7 shooting; and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the January shooting.
The third juvenile involved in the Feb. 7 event faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of using a firearm during a dangerous felony. No age was given of the third juvenile. The names of all three were not given due to their age.
Thomas said the investigation into Freeman’s death is still ongoing and a motive is unknown at this time.
Two shot multiple times at vehicle as Freeman was leaving Austin-East Magnet High School.
Chief Thomas said there is no known link to the three other recent shootings of Austin-East students.