A 17-year-old Virginia honor student has been arrested for fatally shooting a freshman classmate as he walked down the street Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators said Sean Shewey, 16, was pronounced dead at the scene in Jarratt while his sister was wounded and flown to a trauma center in Richmond, WRIC reported.
The sister has since been released from the hospital. Her fiance was also with the siblings but was not struck; he ran for help after the shooting.
“I heard a pop, then the young lady went down, the young man turns, they were just down the street, and then a second pop. And then he went down,” said Kenneth Bennett, a resident who witnessed the shooting. “I really, I can’t really describe it. I just ran out to see what I could do to help, you know, the individuals that were down on the ground.”
Classes at Greensville County High School, where both Shewey and the suspect were students, were cancelled on Wednesday and counseling made available.
“Last night, a Greensville County High School student was killed in what appears to be a senseless act of violence,” Dr. Kelvin Edwards, superintendent of Greensville Schools, wrote to parents in a letter announcing the cancelation.
Investigators have not named the 17-year-old suspect but said he lived across the street from Shewey and had a rifle, WTKR reported.
“We have no motive at this point in our investigation,” Greensville County Sheriff Tim Jarratt said. “I understand [the suspect is] an Honor Student at the high school, getting ready to graduate.”
Shewey’s friends told the station he and the other two were walking to the store for juice and cookies for his 2-year-old niece.
“To hear that he was shot, nobody can believe it because nowadays there are kids that are out here doing bad things. He wasn’t one of them,” friend Jennifer Pickett said.
The suspect has been charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding, using a firearm in the commission of a felony, and reckless handling of a firearm causing injury, according to WRIC.
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[Featured image: Sean Shewey/handout]
