Two 16-year-olds charged in the bus stop murder of Eastern High School student

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Two juveniles have been charged in the murder of an Eastern High School student shot and killed at a bus stop in September.

Limited information is being released about the suspects because of their ages, but police did say they are both 16-years-old and also students at Jefferson County Public Schools. JCPS would not identify the school the suspects attended.

Each suspect faces multiple charges, including complicity to murder, complicity to assault 1st and complicity to assault 2nd.

Tyree "Ty" Smith was killed in a drive-by shooting the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 22, while two other students - a 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl - were injured. They were all at a school bus stop at the corner of Dr. W.J. Hodge and West Chestnut streets, waiting to catch a bus for Eastern High School.

The arrests were announced at a news conference attended by city leaders and Louisville Metro Police, which mentioned several times the investigation is not complete and hinted that more arrests are possible.

LMPD Det. Donny Burbrink said they won't call this case closed until the justice system runs its course.

"When I say this case is an ongoing investigation, this case will be being investigated until the trial is over. We're not going to say that we have everybody. We're not going to say that we don't have everybody because it's still going on. We're still going to chase down every lead. We're still going to talk to everybody we can talk to," Burbrink said.

"Tyree was waiting at a bus stop, which should be a sacred space in our community -- where there should be every expectation of safety and security," said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.

Fischer stressed that the level of gun violence in the city can never be what he called "the new normal," and he said it is taking "a human toll that pre-dates COVID-19 and will continue long afterward, if we don't pull together and find new solutions."

"Public safety is my number one priority, and every department in Metro government is focused on the challenge of gun violence, getting guns off the streets and holding people accountable for these acts of violence," Fischer said.

LMPD Chief Erika Shields called the case "truly horrific" and told Tyree's family she hopes the arrests give them a "morsel of relief."

"Tyree was an all-star student, and he was doing everything we ask of kids. And he was murdered standing and waiting on his school bus. We should not be standing here today, and we simply must do better as a community," she said.

LMPD made a point of thanking JCPS, JCPS security, the ATF, FBI and the Commonwealths attorney's office for help in making the arrests.

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