Detectives investigating the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old Minnesota boy Saturday morning in St. Paul arrested a 14-year-old boy on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the crime a few hours later.
On Saturday morning outside the residence in the 200 block of Stinson Street, family, friends and community members said they believed the boy, whom they identified as Markee Jones, came across a loaded firearm and accidentally shot himself.
But by 4 p.m., authorities reported they had arrested and booked a 14-year-old boy in connection with the shooting into the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter tweeted that he was grieving, along with the boy’s family and loved ones.
“There are no words to adequately express how horrifying and infuriating it is that the life of a kind, beloved 12-year-old was stolen by gunfire,” Carter wrote.
He said that there were still a lot of questions about the shooting “especially the origin of the firearm that caused Markee’s death.”
But Carter expressed confidence in the St. Paul Police Department.
“Though nothing can ever make sense of this suffering, no one is better than our police officers at securing resolution to these types of incidents,” he tweeted.
On Saturday morning, Nasiy Nasir X, national chairman of the Lion of Judah Armed Forces and leader of the New Black Panther Nation Minnesota, had asked that whoever owned the firearm turn themselves in, either to the police or the Black Panthers.
“(The) firearm does not belong to our beloved child, Markee,” he said. “It belongs to someone else, so therefore this is negligence on their end. Whoever knows something, please step forward and say something. They can no longer get their child back. He’s not coming back. … If you know it’s your firearm that you left here, make sure you turn yourself in. You can turn yourself in to the New Black Panther Nation or you can turn yourself in to the police station, but turning yourself in is the right thing to do so this family can get justice and this family can rest and be at peace.”
Marilyn Hill, who is the boy’s great aunt, said the house where Jones died was a “safe house.”
“There are no firearms in this house,” she said. “We are God people. This is an incident that could be an accident but my niece wants justice …”
Police were called to the area at 5 a.m. on reports that a juvenile male had been shot. When they arrived, they found a 12-year-old boy with a gunshot wound. St. Paul fire medics transported the boy to Regions Hospital, where he later died.
Tell us your thoughts...