17-year-old fatally shot during fight weeks before high school graduation, AL cops say
A 17-year-old high school senior was shot and killed in a fight just weeks before his graduation, leaving an Alabama community rattled.
Dwaine Thomas was a student at George W. Carver High School, WVTM reported.
Police noticed Thomas in a fight with another person in a parking lot at about 6 p.m. May 16, according to a news release from the Birmingham Police Department.
As police entered the parking lot, a suspect pulled a gun out of a car and shot Thomas, the release said. Multiple bystanders were watching the fight and recording it, the release said.
Police chased the suspect, but the person fled in a small blue sedan, the release said.
Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Police were questioning a person about the shooting, WBRC reported, but they have not publicly identified any suspects.
Thomas played baseball and his coaches were in the process of helping him get a scholarship, AL.com reported.
“We have suffered the tragic loss of a student in Birmingham City Schools, and our hearts are saddened,” Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Sullivan said in a statement obtained by WVTM. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Dwaine’s family and his family of teachers and friends at Carver.”
Carver High School Principal Tikki Hines told AL.com that she hoped that the school could help students from feeling hopeless in light of violence.
“I don’t want them to feel a sense of hopelessness. Sometimes a beef or a problem becomes blown way up out of proportion,” Hines told AL.com. “A lot of them are just hurt. We just try to be there to address the hurt.”
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin addressed the shooting in a media conference, too, according to WBRC.
Eight Birmingham high school students have been shot and killed since January, Woodfin told WBRC.
“His mother is supposed to see him walk across the stage,” Woodfin said about Thomas to WBRC. “It’s not right. There are too many grieving mothers and families who have to deal with it.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Birmingham Police Department Homicide Unit at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 5:06 PM with the headline "17-year-old fatally shot during fight weeks before high school graduation, AL cops say."
