Third Chardon High School shooting victim that dies is Black student named Demetrius Hewlin, 16

Demetrius Hewlin

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor, Cleveland Urban News.Com(www.clevelandurbannews.com)

CHARDON, Ohio-In spite of a Black population of roughly a half of a percent in the once obscure city of Chardon, Oh., a small town in Geauga County of some 5, 000 people that lies 35 miles east of the largely Black major metropolitan city of Cleveland, a Black teen is the third of three students to die among five students shot during a shooting rampage by gunman Thomas "TJ" Lane, 16, who let loose in the school cafeteria Mon. morning.

Demetrius Hewlin, 17, died at Metro-Health Hospital in Cleveland Tues. afternoon, police said.

His family donated his organs to Lifebanc, saying that that was what he wanted.

The other two fatally injured victims, Daniel Parmertor, 16, and Russell King, 17, died Mon.

A fourth and fifth student remain hospitalized.

Meanwhile, Lane, who was also a student at the school, and a kid that his classmates say was bullied and deemed an outcast, remains in police custody. He was charged on Thurs. with three juvenile counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault.

His friends reportedly told police that to their knowledge he just suddenly went off, allegedly out of anger at Parmertor for dating a former girlfriend that had jilted him.

The Black community was saddened to hear about Hewlin especially, with some chanting by land line telephones and cell phones, primarily to each other, that "the third student was Black," and a few worrying if race is playing any part in the media's interests in his unprecedented death.

Some yielded a sigh of relief that the shooter is White, saying the Black community cannot stand another unwarranted stigma, and others said they were proud that the profile of these teen serial killers are traditionally not Black teens and, instead, are disgruntled and emotionally malnourished White males.

And national cable network personalities like CNN's the Rev. Al. Sharpton have motivated discussion around the racial politics of rampant school shootings with guests forcing questions on why White kids that kill are routinely analyzed by media pundits as having problems coping with life while similarly situated Black males are too frequently branded merely thugs.

But in the end, most are simply brokenhearted at the loss of lives so young in the city of Chardon , and some of them are reminded once again that "But there for the grace of God go I," be I White, Black or other.

State Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat on a mission with community activists behind him for a state law that makes it illegal for school districts not to have metal detectors, said that teen violence in America's schools transcends racial and ethic lines.

"School violence impacts all of us," said Patmon.

Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.