Virgil Lamar Ware
Birth date:
December 6, 1949
Death date:
September 15, 1963
Age at Death:
13
About
Virgil Lamar Ware was born in Birmingham, Alabama and had five brothers. He went to eighth grade in Pratt City in Alabama where he also played on the football team. He worked with his brother as a paper boy and had a part time job delivering coal. When he grew, up he wanted to go to college and get a degree to become a lawyer.
On September 15, 1963, Virgil and his brother, James, were riding their bikes back from their uncle's house when they were approached by a motorcycle with two white teens on it. One of the boys had lifted the gun up and thought he had just done a warning shot but ended up shooting Virgil in the chest. The two teens claimed that they had heard that two boys, who were riding bikes, had been throwing and hitting white boys with rocks. The teens said, that they thought they saw one of the boys on the bikes holding a rock so he did a warning shot, not knowing that he had hit Virgil in the chest.
Was justice served?
The two white teens had been caught because the police had found their motorcycle using the plates someone had given them. They were both charged with first degree murder but ended up getting convicted for second degree murder which they ended up pleading guilty to. In the end, the judge had only given them two years of probation and had their sentences suspended.