A Tennessee community mourns the loss of 17-year-old Christine Michael, who was a “promising student who had tremendous plans for the future.”
A Tennessee teen was shot and killed after leaving a high school basketball game on Friday.
Christine Michael, 17, was in a car with friends headed to Brownsville after a basketball game when shots were fired into the vehicle, striking and killing Michael, the Haywood County Sheriff's office said in a statement.
The day after Michael’s death, police said they arrested Kevion Davis, 18, on a first-degree murder charge. Nearly an hour and a half later, authorities arrested Bishop Owens, 16, also on a first-degree murder charge.
According to Michael’s mother, her daughter was the key to solving who her killer was.
“When the incident was going on, she was texting. So, she identified one of the people. To the end, my baby used her smarts to get murder solved,” she told WREG.
Michael's devastated loved ones and the community in which she was raised were shocked at the loss of such an intelligent and driven teen.
Haywood County Schools Superintendent Amie Marsh described Michael as a “promising student who had tremendous plans for the future.”
“We are all deeply saddened by her passing and by the brilliant light that was extinguished Friday evening. Please keep her family in your thoughts,” Marsh said.
The public library Michael worked at part-time is also honoring her memory. The community has been asked to write their thoughts on “memorial” butterflies that will be given to her family, the Elma Ross Public Library said in a social media post.
Michael was class president, top of her class, participated in various activities and was on track to complete her associate's degree prior to graduating high school, Haywood High School Principal Brittany Avent said.
“Christine embodied everything you want in a student. But more importantly, you could see her soul. It was perfect. I don’t have words,” Avent said.
“They robbed me of my child. They took my baby. They robbed me. I’ll never have grandchildren by her,” Michael’s mother told WREG. “I’ll never get to see her walk the line, I’ll never see her accomplish all the things that she started from day one when she put her feet on this earth.”
Davis is currently being held in the Haywood County Jail and Owens is in juvenile detention. Both are being held on no bond and are being held on first-degree murder charges and could face three counts of attempted murder, the Haywood County Sheriff said.
