Fourteen-year-old Dewayde Stewart was killed on the night of Tuesday, June 24, 2025, after a handgun discharged inside a moving car on Cleveland’s East Side. Stewart was riding in the front passenger seat when a gun being handled by a 17-year-old occupant in the back seat fired, striking him in the back. Officers were flagged down near Broadway Avenue and Union Avenue around 9:30 p.m.; the firearm was reportedly thrown from the vehicle as occupants sought help. Stewart was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Police described the shooting as accidental and detectives arrested and booked the 17-year-old into the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center the same night. Charges reported afterward included involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence, and handling firearms in a motor vehicle, tied to investigators’ findings that the gun had been discarded and that the fatal shot occurred while it was being handled in the back seat. Community members gathered at Scranton Elementary, where Stewart had just finished eighth grade, to remember him with balloons, chalk messages, and candles.

If anyone was in the area that night or has information about the vehicle or the events inside it, please share what is known.