Five years after he shot his teenage friend dead while they sniffed glue together, a Tennessee man died in jail while serving a two-decade sentence.
The Tennessee Department of Correction announced on Thursday that 20-year-old Ethen Vanderpool passed away at the Northwest Correctional Complex. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Vanderpool was convicted last year of second-degree murder for the 2018 fatal shooting of 16-year-old JayShawn Taylor.
Vanderpool and Taylor were sniffing glue together at the killer’s home with two girls. Taylor was handling Vanderpool’s gun when an argument started.
The then 15-year-old grabbed Taylor’s shirt and forced him onto a bed before firing a fatal shot killing him.
Jalan Sowell, the victim’s brother, described his deceased sibling as a “shooting star.”
“Because they’re here quick, you see them, but then they’re just gone. I feel like I should have taken more time admiring that shooting star, because he was special, and you see he still has an effect on all of us now.”
