Dewayde Stewart, 14, male, Black/African American, was riding in the front passenger seat of a car on Cleveland’s East Side on the night of Tuesday, June 24, 2025, when a gun held by a 17-year-old in the back seat discharged and struck him in the back. Officers patrolling near Broadway Avenue and Union Avenue around 9:30 p.m. were flagged down by the occupants, who told police their friend had been shot; investigators later learned the firearm had been thrown from the vehicle as they looked
for help. Dewayde Stewart, 14, was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said preliminary evidence indicated the shooting was accidental: the 17-year-old was handling a handgun when it fired inside the moving car, killing Dewayde Stewart, 14. Community members gathered days later outside Scranton Elementary, where he had just completed eighth grade, to release balloons and remember him as a bright, funny student whose smile lingered with everyone who knew him. An obituary later recorded his full name and dates—July 3, 2010 to June 24, 2025—and listed memorial services in early July.
Detectives took a 17-year-old male into custody that night; he was booked into the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center. Reporting that followed stated the teen was arrested and faced counts including involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence, and handling firearms in a motor vehicle, reflecting investigators’ findings that the gun had been discarded and that the fatal shot occurred as he handled it in the back seat. Incident listings and summaries corroborated the arrest status and the circumstances inside the vehicle.
Across Cleveland, the name of Dewayde Stewart, 14, appeared on memorial pages and violence archives, each echoing the same bare facts: a ride with friends, a gun in the back seat, a single negligent discharge, and a family and school community left to honor a life cut short. The scene near Broadway and Union became a place of chalk messages and candles, while online tributes continued to note the date—June 24, 2025—and the suddenness with which a routine drive turned into an irrevocable loss.
