THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701270053
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 130 lines
Four Virginia Beach teen-agers - two boys and two girls - were arrested Sunday and charged with the murder of a Kellam High School soccer player, police said.
It remained unclear, however, what prompted the shooting, if the victim - Timothy M. Wheaton, 17 - knew his assailants or if they were students at Kellam.
Acting on information from Beach detectives, police in Long Beach, N.C. - near the South Carolina border - made the arrests. The four are James W. Waters Jr., 19, of the 1700 block of Lord Tennyson Arch; Richard Ethan Hollingsworth, 18, of the 1800 block of Blaimore Arch; and two 17-year-old girls whose names were not released. All are charged with murder, and Waters is also charged with using a gun while committing a felony.
Extradition proceedings have begun, said police spokesman Lou Thurston, who said the four may be returned to Virginia today or Tuesday. They are also suspected in a second drive-by shooting Saturday night in Virginia Beach, he said; no one was hurt.
They were arrested about 5 p.m. Sunday - at the same hour that about 150 friends and teammates of Wheaton gathered to cherish his life at the spot where he died.
And to begin to understand pain most of them had never known.
``It's a senseless death,'' said Elizabeth Beatty, vice president of the Landstown Community Civic League. ``He was such a well-liked, well-respected kid.''
Beatty was sad - and angry.
``This boy was standing out on the street talking to a friend, and then this happens. It cannot be accepted. We won't accept it,'' Beatty said. ``We want our children to be safe in our neighborhood.''
Despite the increasing chill of the late afternoon, Wheaton's friends and neighbors stood quietly for 45 minutes in the street, Barberry Lane, near Bloomfield Drive.
A makeshift memorial has sprung up on the curb near where Wheaton died. Small crosses, bouquets of flowers, and candles surround a framed portrait of the Kellam High soccer team, of which he was a member.
Wheaton, a junior, was shot just after 7 p.m. Saturday.
Witnesses said a car with four people in it pulled up to Wheaton and a man leaned out and opened fire with what is believed to have been a small-caliber handgun.
On Saturday night and again Sunday, members of the community's neighborhood watch went door-to-door, both to spread word of the shooting and to solicit information. Tips were passed on to investigators.
For many neighborhood parents, Sunday was spent trying to handle their children's conflicted emotions.
``The teen-agers have just been devastated. They don't know where to turn,'' Beatty said. ``My own child was very upset.''
Jim Dillon, 43, a seventh-grade math teacher at Princess Anne Middle School, said his daughter - also a Kellam student - was too upset to attend the vigil.
``She just went up to her room and is being alone,'' he said. ``I asked her if she wanted to come over for this, but she said no. I'm going to respect her rights on that.''
Dillon said explaining such things to teen-agers can be difficult.
``I just tell them that there are times when people do senseless, stupid things,'' he said. ``When I was younger, it used to be fistfights. But, back then, you were friends again the next day. With guns now, there's no next day.''
While some of the students attending the vigil were clearly grief-stricken, many more simply looked perplexed and confused.
Kellam soccer coach Don Hart spoke briefly, but otherwise there was no formal program. Just a shared, painful silence.
After about a half-hour, the soccer players gathered in a tight circle around the flickering candles, sharing their thoughts quietly with one another for several minutes. Then they slowly walked away, and the assemblage broke up.
One young man stopped to hug a teen-age girl.
``You OK?'' she asked him as he rested his chin on her shoulder. He was stony-faced.
``No,'' came his soft response. ``I can't cry yet.''
As they left, Hart acknowledged each player.
``I think what we did here was to show that we have a community, a school, that is concerned,'' Hart, 42, said afterward.
``He was a special individual,'' the coach said. ``His family was special. They really cared about each other.''
Ryan Collins, 20, who had coached Wheaton in junior varsity soccer, echoed the elder coach.
``He always had a smile on his face,'' Collins said of Wheaton. ``How could anyone do such a thing?''
Like many young athletes, sports was a consuming passion for Wheaton, the coaches said. But athletics also had provided a foundation, a discipline that had just started to shape his whole life.
``He was always concerned about his grades; that he kept up,'' Hart said. ``Sports were starting to help him achieve what he needed in his academics. He had just had a very good year.''
The two coaches were a mirror of the neighborhood's emotions - parents and older residents, like Hart, revealing their pain, while the younger residents, like Collins, showed almost no emotion.
Where Hart was clearly grieving, his voice shaky as he choked back tears, Collins was stoic.
``It really hasn't taken hold of me yet,'' conceded Collins. ``I woke up hoping it had all gone away. I know it's going to hurt me deeply.''
Collins said he had grown close to Wheaton. He had tutored him in math and advised him on other matters, as well as soccer.
Wheaton was backup goalkeeper on the Kellam Knights, specializing in defense against penalty kicks. ``He was a great keeper,'' Collins said. ``He had the skill to take it to the next level.''
Collins' thoughts turned to last year, when Wheaton's defense against Kempsville in an intense, penalty-kick shootout helped snag the Eastern Region boys soccer title for Kellam.
``Everyone will remember that last game. He just rose to the occasion,'' Collins said. ``Now we'll have to remember him for what was, not what he could be.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
About 150 friends and relatives of Timothy M. Wheaton, who was shot
Saturday night, gathered Sunday for an impromptu memorial service at
the spot where he died. Ryan Collins, who had coached Wheaton in
junior varsity soccer, kneeled before a makeshift memorial. ``It
really hasn't taken hold of me yet,'' Collins said. ``I woke up
hoping it had all gone away. I know it's going to hurt me deeply.''
It is still unclear what prompted the shooting of Timothy M.
Wheaton, 17.
Miranda Oquinn, center, a Kellam High freshman, was one of many who
attended a vigil Sunday for Timothy Wheaton.
VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING JUVENILE ARREST MURDER