On Saturday night Devon Thompson was on his way to the ACC fair but he was killed one block away. And tonight, there are no easy answers for one more teen killing. Jacqueline Godwin reports.
Harold Thompson, Father of Murder Victim
“As far as I am concerned, he was going to the fair. That is far as I am concerned: he was going to the fair.”
Eighteen year old Devon Darrel Thompson was riding his bicycle to a nearby high school fair when at the corner of Wagner’s Lane and Berkeley Street he was hit with a spray of gunfire. Area residents say the young man who was gravely injured fought hard to breathe
Jacqueline Godwin,
How many gunshots you heard?
Michael Usher, Witness
“I heard about four gunshots. He got shot in his neck back and the rest was in his chest and his head back. I think the one in his head back killed him.”
Voice of Area Resident,
“We came out and when we peeped at the gate we see somebody lying on the ground. We were peeping to see what happened out here because when I heard it I said it sounded like it was right in front of my house. It sounded close. All of us who were in the yard ran up the street and when we got there we saw a guy on the ground, laid down there. But we didn’t know the guy so we peeped down on him and we said this is the guy who got shot. They called for the ambulance and so but the police came in time and picked up the guy in time and we saw that it was in his head back he got shot. They picked him up and took him but he wasn’t dead yet when they took him.”
Thompson died while being rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. According to the victim’s father Harold Thompson, he knows his son does not have any enemies, but he also doesn’t believe he was mistakenly shot and killed.
Harold Thompson,
“He has no enemies is right but that doesn’t look like it was mistaken to me because four shots in the back and one in the head, that is not a mistake. All we got to do is try to get him under the ground, try to bury him and I just want just justice. That is all I want, no problem.”
Voice of Area Resident,
“We were scared. I would wish they just stop these shootings because it could have been one of our kids. Good thing my kids were inside locked up. It could have been one of our kids because it was early when that happened. I wish they stop these shootings.”
Harold Thompson,
“I have nothing to say. I got nothing to say because these type of things happen everyday, almost everyday. I have nothing to say ma’am.”
Jacqueline Godwin for 7NEWS.
The Thompson murder was the first in two weeks. Doesn’t seem like much, but it was the longest stretch without a homicide since the start of what has been a deadly year in the city.
