A 17-year-old Tennessee highschool student was fatally shot on Feb. 10 while driving home from a basketball game with friends.
Christine Michael reportedly had a 4.0 GPA and was class president at Haywood High School in Brownsville — about an hour from Memphis, FOX 13 reported, citing Michael’s relations.
Haywood County officials have arrested and charged Kevion Davis, 18, and Bishop Owens, 16, with first-degree murder in reference to the incident. They’re each being held without bond, and authorities are looking for three additional charges against each individual.
“The incident that took the lifetime of Christine Michael Friday night will without end change the lives of an awesome many individuals,” Haywood Sheriff Billy Garrett Jr. said in a Feb. 12 Facebook post. “Our heartfelt condolences exit to the Michael family during this extremely difficult time, and we wish to support and uplift them as they work through the pain that this tragedy has dropped at their family.”
The girl was returning to Brownsville on Highway 19 from Ripley, where she had been watching a highschool basketball game, in a vehicle with friends when “someone suddenly began shooting at them,” Garrett said in a Feb. 11 statement posted to Facebook.
A 13-year-old girl in the identical vehicle was also injured within the attack while the motive force was unharmed.
A Twitter account under the name “Kevion Davis” of Brownsville, Tennessee wrote on Dec. 3, 2022, “I swear it’s a blessing to have different colleges hitting me up on a regular basis, regardless that my season led to Week 4 by a torn ACL.”
Haywood High School students returned to classes on Monday and remembered their beloved classmate. Sheriff Garrett and Haywood County Schools Superintendent Amie Marsh, in a joint statement, described Michael as “a promising student who had tremendous plans for her future.”
Michael’s classmate, Synandiaha Welch, said the 17-year-old made her “start fighting for” higher grades.
“She was smart. She had goals. She talked about how she desired to be a model. She desired to be a CNA. She desired to have life,” Welch told FOX 13.
Authorities are asking anyone with any information in regards to the incident to call 731-772-1215 or Crimestoppers at 731-424-8477.