12-year-old murder suspect arrested 400 miles from home

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last updated 9 July 2015

A 12-year-old boy was arrested in Minneapolis on Tuesday in connection with a deadly shooting in Omaha, officials said.

The minor will be charged with first-degree murder alongside two other suspects: Shauntayvious Primes-Willis, 15, and Jamar E. Milton, 17, ABC News reports. Primes-Willis and Milton will both be charged as adults, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said, with the 12-year-old being tried in juvenile court. Kleine told ABC affiliate KETV that the suspects allegedly had Jamymell Ray, 31, meet them at a park in north Omaha for a marijuana deal on June 29. The three suspects each came armed with a gun, Kleine said, and allegedly attempted to rob Ray during the drug deal. Police say Ray was shot at close range, and died from his injuries at a local hospital. Ray was accompanied by Charles Fisher, 30, who was injured in the shooting.

Officials are investigating how the boy, who has family in Minneapolis, traveled 400 miles away from home to Minnesota. The U.S. Marshals Service Metro Fugitive Task Force received a tip about the boy's whereabouts, and arrested him "without incident," a spokesperson said. "When you're sitting in a courtroom with someone who's in grade school, in effect, charged with this kind of a crime, it really shocks you," Kleine said. "There is no question in my mind that there are gang connections."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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