In the spring of 2022, just weeks before he was set to graduate from Carver High School, 17-year-old Dwaine Thomas was tragically killed. A promising young man, Dwaine played baseball and was in the process of securing an athletic scholarship for college. He had attended his prom only a short time before the incident that would cut his life short. His plans to become an electrician, with classes already underway, held the bright promise of a future that would never be realized.
On the
evening of May 16, 2022, at an apartment complex in Birmingham, Alabama, a dispute escalated into a physical altercation. Dwaine Thomas was involved in a fight with other individuals in the parking lot. As the confrontation unfolded, a Birmingham police officer, responding to a separate call, arrived at the scene. It was at this moment that the situation took a fatal turn. A suspect retrieved a handgun from a vehicle and fired, striking Dwaine. He was pronounced dead at the scene, found on the ground between two parked cars.
The aftermath of the shooting led to the identification and arrest of two suspects. The individual who fired the weapon was identified as Derrick Michael Stone Jr. The person who provided him with the gun was Jemarien Zachius Goree. In the ensuing legal proceedings, Stone pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of murder. Goree, who was 21 at the time of his conviction, stood trial. After a week-long trial in which 12 witnesses testified, a Jefferson County jury found Jemarien Zachius Goree guilty of the intentional murder of Dwaine Thomas. He was subsequently ordered to be held without bond pending his sentencing.
