THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702020107
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 73 lines
Of the many memorials held since Timothy Wheaton died a week ago, the gathering Saturday night where the 17-year-old was gunned down was probably the one he'd feel best about.
For, finally, it was OK to smile again.
``If he were here, he'd try to cheer us up,'' Kevan Cook, 20, told the assemblage of more than 100 teen-agers, many of them friends and neighbors, classmates and teammates of Wheaton - a young man often remembered for an easy grin and a happy view of life.
On a spot so burdened with grief and horror only a week earlier, where a makeshift memorial of pictures, crosses and flowers has grown daily, there was this night a sense of innocence and rebirth.
``Tomorrow this memorial will be taken down and the flowers and the notes given to the family,'' Cook said, articulating a quiet agreement among the neighborhood's youths and families. ``It's time to begin the healing process.''
Wheaton, a standout player on the Kellam Knights soccer team, was hanging out with friends in the 3000 block of Barberry Lane at Bloomfield Drive, in Landstown Lakes, on Jan. 25. It was just after 7 p.m. when a car pulled up.
Witnesses said later that a passenger in the car questioned Wheaton and his friends, demanding to know if they knew another boy who lived nearby. Wheaton said he didn't know the boy.
Someone in the car warned that if he was lying, he'd be killed. Wheaton insisted that he was not lying. That apparently wasn't good enough. Police said someone in the car fired one shot, hitting Wheaton in the chest.
Charles Riech, a surgical assistant, heard the shot from his home.
``I came flying out the door,'' he recalled Saturday night. ``I was the first medical person there. I was there when he died.''
The next day, four teen-agers were arrested and charged in connection with the slaying, among them James W. Waters Jr., 19, whom police have charged is the trigger man. He has denied killing Wheaton.
Riech spoke briefly to the assembled youths Saturday night. ``The hardest thing people in my profession do is to let a life slip away,'' he said. ``Please, please, please don't ever let this happen again. You guys are our future.''
Except for his words, the evening was for and by the teen-agers. Parents and elders stood at a respectful distance. Police turned back approaching traffic.
Cook, a volunteer firefighter in training, said he helped organize the gathering because he wanted to do something for Wheaton's friends. Although he only knew Wheaton in passing, Cook said his brother had been a close friend.
They came together under a starry sky - some were Wheaton's closest friends, others just acquaintances - each holding a candle. The flames illuminated faces that had changed markedly since a similar memorial was held at the spot the day after Wheaton died.
Where before faces were strained and stony, now they were softer. Where there had seemed to be fear and confusion, now there was calm.
``There's warmth and compassion,'' Riech said. ``The kids know they don't have to be afraid anymore.''
Some warmed their hands and faces over the bright flames of their candles. A few let hot wax fall across their fingers. They sang songs and listened to music from a van someone had parked nearby. Young couples held each other close. Friends gathered in small huddles.
Some of them came forward to share memories of Wheaton.
As they did, there were tears. But also from the hush, there was the occasional sound of laughter. Nothing bold or undignified, just a shared hint that life was moving on now.
``Everyone is basically coming together as a community,'' Cook said. And that's what counts, he added. ``There's violence everywhere you go. Only we can stop it.''
Finally, everyone settled down onto one knee, and they recited the Lord's Prayer. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Timothy Wheaton