Tamel Durant: Boy, 17, found dead inside trash can, family demands answer after cops fail to nab suspect

'Things can’t go unanswered. I mean, they put my baby in the trash,' said Tamel Durant's father

UPDATED OCT 25, 2022

Tamel Durant, 17, was shot and his body was found in a trash can (Takayla Warrick/GoFundMe)

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: A 17-year-old boy was found shot dead in a trash can in Richmond town on Wednesday, October 19. Tamel Durant, a student at Armstrong High School, was shot dead in Richmond's East End near Fairfield Court and on North 23rd Street. As the suspect remains unidentified, the family, who is still trying to wrap their heads around the fatal incident, has now demanded answers.

Speaking to 8News, Daytoria Durant, the stepmother of the victim, said: "We need answers. We don’t have the answers," said Durant, "Tamel was not a threat to anybody. It’s confusing. It’s a cycle. We are so distraught. We try to breathe and it starts all over again. I feel like I’m publicly drowning and my life is shattered."

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She narrated the agonizing moments leading up to the news. "I watched the story unfold like everyone else. I saw the story come across my phone and my heart broke for whoever child that was. I came in the house and Tamel wasn’t in there," she said. "About 6 o’clock, I called the emergency police response to find out what was going on. It wasn’t until about 8 o’clock when three guys come to my porch and my life changed forever in that moment and it’ll never be the same. Nothing in my wildest dreams did I think that could be him," she said. "Things can’t go unanswered," Durant’s father, told 6News Richmond. "I mean, they put my baby in the trash."

The teenager, according to the family, relocated to Richmond from Brooklyn, New York, two years ago to live with his father. He enjoyed listening to music, playing basketball in the neighborhood, and supporting the Golden State Warriors. "Tamel would’ve been graduating from Armstrong this year," Daytoria Durant said. "I was going to get everything to make sure he got all of the accommodations and anything he needed. I was fighting for him. I don’t know how we will get through this."

Durant is the most recent casualty in a troubling pattern of teenage violence in the City. Four Richmond students have been shot and died this year alone. Durant is the second Armstrong student who won't be returning to the classroom. Richmond police have not yet arrested anyone in connection to the shooting.