KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) The Latest on the murder trial of three young men in the death of Tennessee high school student Zaevion Dobson (all times local):
2 p.m.
A prosecutor at the murder trial of three young men say at least 34 shots were fired in a shooting that killed a Tennessee high school student lauded for courageously shielding two girls from the gunfire.
Opening statements were delivered Tuesday at the first-degree murder trial of Christopher Drone Bassett, Kipling Deshawn Colbert and Richard Gregory Williams III in connection with the death of 15-year-old Zaevion Dobson.
Dobson was shot in December 2015 while protecting two friends in his Knoxville neighborhood. A promising football player at a local high school, he was posthumously praised by then-President Barack Obama as a hero.
Knox County Assistant District Attorney Phil Morton told jurors Tuesday that Dobson died in the culmination of a series of connected gang-related shootings. He added at least four weapons were fired in the attack that killed Dobson. He described Dobson as a ''protector' and added that neither he nor his friends had any idea why people were shooting.
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6:45 a.m.
Opening statements are scheduled to take place Tuesday morning in the trial for three men facing first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a Knoxville high school student who died shielding girls from gunfire.
Christopher Drone Bassett, Kipling Deshawn Colbert and Richard Gregory Williams III are facing trial in connection with the death of Zaevion Dobson. A jury was selected Monday.
Dobson was shot in December 2015 while protecting two friends in his Knoxville neighborhood. Dobson was praised by then-President Barack Obama as a hero shortly after the 15-year-old's death.
Dobson, who had been a promising football player at Fulton High School, received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2016 ESPYs. The award recognizes individuals embodying the spirt of Ashe, who dedicated his life to human rights advocacy.
