Teen killed at Walmart over kicked shopping cart as suspect’s past reveals he should never have been there

An 18-year-old boy who was stabbed to death at a Walmart in Georgia has given his organs to help save other people’s lives. J.T. Schroeder passed away four days after he was attacked. The fight started over something to do with a shopping cart. Police in Chatham County said the stabbing happened at the store.

According to People, a 48-year-old man named Delano Middleton now faces a murder charge because of what happened. When people looked at his criminal record, they found something troubling. His past shows he had done something very similar before, which makes people wonder why he was walking around free.

The suspect’s past reveals he should never have been there. Back in 2023, Middleton admitted he was guilty of a serious assault charge. That case was from 2021, and it also involved him stabbing someone after an incident with a shopping cart.

This wasn’t the first time he attacked someone

A woman named Erica Young talked about being attacked by Middleton in 2021. She said he stabbed her four times that day. She was just trying to be nice and help him out. “I asked him did he needed help finding his vehicle, and he shoved a cart over on top of me and just started stabbing me,” Young told the news station.

Even though he violently attacked someone with a knife, the records show Middleton only got two years in prison. The news report said he got out early because of time he already served while waiting for his trial. That means he was already out and free when he ran into Schroeder at Walmart.

The victim’s father said the police version of what happened does not show everything. His son was also named J.T., just like him. “My son was never, ever confrontational unless he was confronted first,” the father explained. Right now, the family is dealing with losing their son but trying to find something positive in how he helped others at the end.

The hospital workers at Memorial Health in Savannah did something special called an honor walk. They did this as they took Schroeder’s body to the operating room where doctors would remove his organs for donation.

A doctor named James Dunne talked about why this matters so much. “Although losing J.T. was devastating, let this bring light to becoming an organ donor,” Dr. Dunne said. He went on to say that most people never get the chance to save someone’s life, but organ donation lets one person save many lives.

Nobody knows yet if Middleton has said whether he is guilty or not guilty to the murder charge. People are still asking how someone who stabbed another person before was able to do almost the exact same thing again.