LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Jefferson County Grand Jury has indicted two juveniles on charges in the shooting death of 16-year-old Eastern High School student Tyree Smith at a Jefferson County Public Schools bus stop in Louisville on Sept. 21, 2021, as well as another homicide of a juvenile on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, 2021.
Commonwealth Attorney Thomas Wine announced the charges on Monday, July 11. Demaurion Moore and Mekhi Cable, two JCPS students, are being charged with murder, assault, tampering with physical evidence, and possession of a handgun by a minor, among other charges. They are also being charged with six counts of wanton endangerment for the other JCPS students who were victims of gun violence at the bus stop that day.
The pair were arrested in Dec. 2021 and at the time they were 16 years old. Because they are being tried as adults, the names of the two suspects are being published.
In December, Sherita Smith, Tyree’s mother, spoke for the first time following her son’s death at a news conference. She said, “It would be justice for me. Even though it would be another kid in the justice system, but it’s no other place for them than jail. I don’t want them dead, I want them in jail,” Smith said. “I just think us as a community has got to do better. These are kids.”
The case has been assigned to Division 8 of Jefferson Circuit Court and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryane Conroy will be the prosecutor. In August, the case will go to a pretrial conference.