Pictured: Greenwood Police are investigating the death of a 16-year-old Whiteland Community High School student who was shot and killed as he was waiting for the school bus Thursday morning in Greenwood’s Summerfield Village subdivision. Franklin Daily Journal photo
By The Franklin Daily Journal
GREENWOOD, Ind. –Police preliminarily charged an 18-year-old with murder following the shooting death of a Whiteland Community High School student Thursday morning in Greenwood’s Summerfield Village subdivision.
Greenwood police believe the 16-year-old student was shot at the corner of Winterwood Drive and Providence Drive around 6:50 a.m. while he waiting for the school bus. Other people waiting at the bus stop fled after the shots were fired, and the suspect escaped the scene on foot, said Matt Fillenwarth, assistant chief of police.
The victim’s grandmother, Tasha Pittman, identified the student Temario Kendall Stokes, Jr. Both Clark-Pleasant Community Schools and the Johnson County Coroner’s Office later confirmed his identity.
Around 4:35 p.m. Thursday police arrested Tyrique Sevin Radford El, 18, of Whiteland and he is being held at the Johnson County jail on a murder charge. The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office will decide what charges, if any, to formally file based on the evidence gathered.
Greenwood police continue to work with Clark-Pleasant Schools Police, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Indiana State Police on the investigation, Fillenwarth said.
The investigation remains ongoing and additional details were not scheduled to be released on Thursday evening, police said. Officials have scheduled a joint press conference between police and Clark-Pleasant schools for 11 a.m. Friday.
Stokes is the sixth victim of gun violence in Greenwood this year, spread over four shootings, including the July 17 mass shooting at the Greenwood Park Mall, during which a gunman killed three people in a food court. All four shootings have occurred in the last three months.
“I think this has been our worst year since I’ve been here,” Fillenwarth said.
At the bus stop, a white sheet covered Stokes’ body. Next to him lay a backpack and a lunch bag, and across the street, grieving friends and family members held each other and cried in distress.
The shooting came as a complete surprise, said Pittman, who described Stokes as playful and like a son to her.
“I love my grandson, he’s an excellent kid. He’s like one of my kids,” Stokes said. “He didn’t deserve to get gunned down, not at all. In my world, he was perfect to me. I had a lot of love for him and he had a lot of love for the family. This is not acceptable.”
Nearby, resident Rhonda Wright said she was cleaning her garage when the shots were fired.
“It’s scary,” Wright said. “I got very scared when I heard it. You don’t know if they’re going to keep driving down the street shooting. When it happens, you just don’t know what you’re going to do.”
Students at Greenwood Community School Corporation and Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation spent the day under heightened security, with both schools starting the day under a lockdown that was downgraded in severity over the course of the day. Over the coming days, counselors and faith leaders will assist students at Whiteland Community High School who are grieving, Clark-Pleasant Superintendent Patrick Spray said in a statement.
“We lost a young man, who at 16 years of age, had a long life ahead of him. We are saddened especially for Temario Stokes’ family and we want them to know that they will be in our prayers and our thoughts as we work through this together. We will support the family in any way possible,” Spray said. “The bottom line is that no teenager anywhere should ever have to face a tragedy like this. Young people need to know that differences can be settled in other ways and that violence is never the appropriate response to any dispute.”
Clark-Pleasant schools canceled all extracurricular activities and sports scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Police are also warning the public about a misleading social media post that was posted on Facebook earlier Thursday. A social media user posted a photo of a screenshot that featured a statement from Whiteland Police Chief Rick Shipp regarding an incident that occurred a few years ago.
The statement from Shipp was from an old news article about a shooting threat at Whiteland’s high school. It is not connected to the events that occurred on Thursday, the department posted on social media.
“WPD wanted to make everyone aware that any posts circulating on social media regarding a statement from Chief Shipp was not issued by Chief Shipp today. The posts are showing a statement from a news article quote regarding an event from a few years ago. And is not in regards to the tragic event from this morning,” the post says.
