Kathy Pinna
School fight preceded shootings
Gang influence unknown
A fight at Trezevant High Thursday Spilled over into a street shootout hours later, killing a 16 year old and seriously wounding a bystander in a wheelchair.
A police report indicates gang members were involved in both incidents but does not indicate whether either person was motivated by a gang affiliation.
The shooting took place about 7 p.m. outside 3842 Schoolfield in Frayser, among rows of modest brick homes about a mile from Trezevant.
Eric Ragland of Millington was shot once in the stomach with a .38 caliber pistol. He died several hours later.
After Ragland was shot, the gunman passed the weapon to another youth, who then began firing wildly into the crowd that had gathered, according to the police report. Leroy Levy, 32, was struck in the lower back as he was traveling down the street in his wheelchair, Insp. R.G. Wright said. Levy's condition was upgraded from critical to serious Friday.
Neither victim was an intended target, police said. The suspects fled in a white Toyota.
Tony Donaldson, 16, who lives at the Schoolfield address was arrested later and charged with aggravated assault in Juvenile Court in connection with the shooting of Levy. A Juvenile Court judge ordered that he be held without bail Friday. He was convicted in Juvenile Court last year on theft and burglary charges.
Police have identified a suspect in the fatal shooting but he was not in custody late Friday. By the time police arrived at the scene, the crowd had grown, and it was unclear how many people had been involved. The violence was apparently sparked by a fight earlier in the day between three students in the weight room at Trezevant High School.
Just before noon, according to police reports, student Fountain Dupree, 18, told police he had been attacked by two other students. He said one student held him while the other hit him in the head with a 45-pound weight.
- The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) Saturday, May 8, 2999 on page 1.
A fight at Trezevant High Thursday Spilled over into a street shootout hours later, killing a 16 year old and seriously wounding a bystander in a wheelchair.
A police report indicates gang members were involved in both incidents but does not indicate whether either person was motivated by a gang affiliation.
The shooting took place about 7 p.m. outside 3842 Schoolfield in Frayser, among rows of modest brick homes about a mile from Trezevant.
Eric Ragland of Millington was shot once in the stomach with a .38 caliber pistol. He died several hours later.
After Ragland was shot, the gunman passed the weapon to another youth, who then began firing wildly into the crowd that had gathered, according to the police report. Leroy Levy, 32, was struck in the lower back as he was traveling down the street in his wheelchair, Insp. R.G. Wright said. Levy's condition was upgraded from critical to serious Friday.
Neither victim was an intended target, police said. The suspects fled in a white Toyota.
Tony Donaldson, 16, who lives at the Schoolfield address was arrested later and charged with aggravated assault in Juvenile Court in connection with the shooting of Levy. A Juvenile Court judge ordered that he be held without bail Friday. He was convicted in Juvenile Court last year on theft and burglary charges.
Police have identified a suspect in the fatal shooting but he was not in custody late Friday. By the time police arrived at the scene, the crowd had grown, and it was unclear how many people had been involved. The violence was apparently sparked by a fight earlier in the day between three students in the weight room at Trezevant High School.
Just before noon, according to police reports, student Fountain Dupree, 18, told police he had been attacked by two other students. He said one student held him while the other hit him in the head with a 45-pound weight.
- The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) Saturday, May 8, 2999 on page 1.
