On April 12, 2021, Anthony J. Thompson Jr. was shot by Knoxville police in the bathroom of his high school. Many details about the incident still go unknown and police are reluctant to share what truly happened on that tragic day. 

While we do not know much about the incident, here is what we do know. A 17-year-old boy was killed and a police officer was wounded on Monday, April 12 during a struggle in a bathroom at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. The police responded to a 911 call that claimed a student was in the school bathroom with a firearm. When officers got to the scene and entered the high school bathroom, the student apparently fired his weapon at the officers resulting in one of the officers being shot. One of the officers then fired his weapon, ultimately killing Thompson. The Knoxville police did not release further information regarding the details of the incident other than Thompson was pronounced dead and the officer who was shot was recovering. 

Evetty Satterfield, a member of the Knox County School Board, was the first public official to confirm that Thompson had been killed by the police officers. Later that evening TBI held a press conference, but seemed to release no further information other than the student was dead and the officer wounded. TBI Director David Rausch addressed the people of Knoxville at the press conference and said “We’ve spent a lot of time when I was here, spent a lot of time working at Austin-East and you know, I’ve got some great memories of interactions with the students there and the staff there, so it’s difficult. My prayer is that the community will come together, you know, don’t let this be divisive. Come together. Let’s continue to work” (David Rausch Knox News).

In recent months, four other Knoxville teens have died due to gun violence resulting in a dire need for gun control and the end of gun violence. A 15-year-old named Justin Taylor died on January 27, 2021, after police officers claimed that a teenage boy accidentally shot Taylor when they were inside a vehicle. The teenage boy who shot Thompson was arrested and charged with “criminally negligent homicide” (Knox News). Stanley Freeman Jr., a 16-year-old boy was also shot while driving home from his school on February 12. There have been two teenage boys, ages 16 and 14, who have been charged with his death. 

Since the death of four Knoxville teens, the Knoxville City Council approved $1 million to help pay to put an end to gun violence. This money was followed by a contract with the anti-violence Cities United, and it was approved. While these are notable first steps towards the end of gun violence in Knoxville, many say that there is much more that needs to be addressed such as poverty, unequal education opportunities, and economic inequality that disproportionately affects people of color and low-income families.