New court documents tell more about fatal shooting of 16-year-old teen at bus stop
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — New court documents filed Wednesday tell more about what the 18-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a teen waiting for a bus told police.
Tyrique Radford El was brought in and questioned by police on the day of the shooting of Temario Stokes Jr.,16. When Radford was found by police around 10:40 a.m. Thursday he was wet, did not have any shoes on and was covered in mud and grass. When police asked why Radford was wet and muddy he stated that he was “working out.”
During the investigation, police found out that Stokes was not alone at the bus stop but his younger brother was with him. Stokes’s brother did not want to speak with police during their investigation, but there had been reports from the family that Stokes’ bike had been stolen a few weeks prior from the incident.
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The family gave the location of the boy who allegedly stole Stokes’ bike and police brought him in for questioning.
During the interview process, police found that the boy — court documents did not provide a name — and Radford were friends. Radford had been staying at the boy’s house for several days and last spoke to the boy on the phone in the morning before the shooting.
Radford said to police that Stokes had recently pulled a gun on him and a friend. The friend was the boy who allegedly stole Stokes’ bike. Radford continued to say that the last time he saw Stokes, Stokes had a gun on his left hip.
During the morning before the shooting, Radford-El stated that he was walking around smoking behind the area of the bus stop where he seen Stokes waiting for the bus at the intersection of Providence and Winterwood drives. As he got closer to Stokes, Radford-El stated that Stokes then turned around and looked at him, smacked his lips, and placed his hand on his left pocket of his pants.
Radford continued to say that he may have reacted “too fast” because the last time he saw Stokes he had a gun on his left hip.
“9 times out of 10, he probably did just reach for his pocket. But I don’t know. I just saw him, he turned around, smacked his lips,” Radford El told investigators, according to court documents.
Radford-El told police that Stokes had caught him off guard and thought he was going to start shooting.
“I just blanked for a second and I just shot,” Radford-El said.
After the first shot was fired, Stokes then turned around to run, but then Radford El shot Stokes a few more times before he ran west.
According to court documents, Radford-El hid the gun in a cornfield, but did not remember where he left it. Radford-El stated that he acted alone and didn’t have any help in the shooting.
Police asked Radford how he felt about killing Stokes, and his response was that he wished to seek some type of therapy.
Mental health resources
- Be Well Indiana
- Indiana Suicide Prevention
- Indiana Department of Child Services’ Children’s Mental Health Initiative
- National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 or 800-273-8255
- More resources
