Story by Alicia Steele, Staff writer
An 18-year-old former high school class president with goals of transferring to Murray State died Wednesday night after his friend accidentally shot him in the chest, according to the Murray Police Department.
Jamel Al-Shubili, of Mayfield, Kentucky, was shot at a friend’s duplex on Stadium View Drive around 8 p.m. Police say Al-Shubili’s friend Tearron Sherrill, of Mayfield, pulled the trigger while waving the gun around as the two friends were hanging out.
Sherrill faces 2nd degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence charges. He is being held at the Calloway County Jail and will be arraigned at 10 a.m. Friday.
The Murray Police Department responded Wednesday at 8:22 p.m. to a call that a person had been shot. When officers arrived, they found Al-Shubili bleeding near a car in the driveway. Sherrill, covered in blood, was with him.
Officers tried to help Al-Shubili and gather information on what happened. The officers noticed several other people at the apartment “screaming and stating they did not know who shot him,” according to the police report from Detective Michael Robinson.
The witnesses told police they heard a gunshot and ran downstairs to see Sherrill holding Al-Shubili as Sherrill yelled that his friend had been shot. They said Sherrill began pulling Al-Shubili out the door and into the driveway to try and get him into a car, according to the police report.
Witnesses said that before the gunshot, Sherrill “had the gun and had been rapping to music clicking the hammer back and forth with the music.” One witness said Sherrill had been waving the gun around and showing it off, according to Robinson’s report.
While clearing the residence, officers found a gun on the couch. Moments later, Sherrill came down the steps, and the gun disappeared. Officers asked Sherrill where the gun went, and he said he did not know and would not cooperate.
Everyone inside of the apartment was detained and the officers were given consent by the renters of the apartment, to search the home.
During the search, officers found the gun in a duffle bag in an upstairs bedroom closet, according to Robinson’s report. This led to the tampering with evidence charge.
Police also charged Sherrill with 2nd degree manslaughter, which is defined as an unlawful killing that does not involve intent to seriously harm or kill, or extreme, reckless disregard for life.
As word of Al-Shubili’s death spread Thursday, friends and former classmates remembered him as a dedicated student and friend. As a member of the class of 2015 from Mayfield High School, Al-Shubili was the class president, a member of the soccer team and was involved in the drug free program.
“If you went to Mayfield, you knew him,” said Jenny Ma, who graduated with Al-Shubili in May. Ma and fellow classmate Emily Klapp are both freshman at Murray State.
Klapp said Al-Shubili planned to transfer to Murray State from WKCTC to pursue photojournalism. She said he was constantly traveling between Mayfield and Murray visiting friends, so it was not unusual that he was in Murray the night of the shooting.
Ma and Klapp said Al-Shubili’s friend Michael Eli Mohney and Mohney’s mother were shot and killed last September. During Mayfield High School football games, Mohney would run the field with the school flag after a touchdown during home games. After Mohney was killed, it was Al-Shubili who took over the tradition in his honor.
That’s that kind of guy Al-Shubili was, Klapp said.
“Everyone loved talking to him,” she said. “He could brighten your day just because he was so positive.”
Sports Editor Kelsey Randolph contributed to this story.
