Father of teen who died after incident at convenience store to release photos

WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- The father of Corey Stingley, a 16-year-old Nathan Hale High School student who died after an incident at a West Allis convenience store has decided to release photos he says will prove his son was murdered.

Stingley, a Nathan Hale High School student tried to shoplift beer from VJ's Food Mart in West Allis, but customers restrained Stingley, and he later died.

Stingley’s father believes they killed his son. Craig Stingley has pleaded with the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office to file charges. Because that hasn't happened, Craig Stingley says he has now decided to release the photos.

In January, Craig Stingley read a statement to the media and did not take any questions, saying “The word of God tells me to know the truth, and the truth will set me free.”

Craig Stingley admitted that his son was trying to shoplift at the store, but he says Corey had returned the items to the store manager, and was then assaulted by three adult male customers. Stingley described how the men held his son, “In a choke hold headlock by one defendant, both legs held by a second defendant, and the left arm stood upon by a third defendant for approximately 20 minutes.”

Stingley says those customers and the store manager violated his son’s civil rights by not allowing him to leave the story after he returned the merchandise.

Stingley says he watched the surveillance video of the incident. He says it is clear to him that his son is dead because of what those men did to him.

“Corey Stingley was not just simply restrained, but the life was literally choked from his body because of the actions of all three adult men. These three adult male customers took it upon themselves to become judge, jury and executioner,” he said.

Corey Stingley suffered severe brain damage from that December incident. He was eventually taken off of life support.

A photo shared by Stingley's father shows bruises around Stingley's neck. Craig Stingley says he has obtained portions of the surveillance video from the night his son was restrained, and will be releasing images from the video.

Tory Lowe is a community activist who has been working with the Stingley family.

"The charges should be second degree reckless homicide at a minimum. They choked the life out of him in VJ's Food. And the pictures that are out there are the truth," Lowe said.

A John Doe investigation was launched int his case, but so far, no charges have been filed.