16-year-old boy arrested in fatal shooting after Florida high school football game
The 16-year-old suspect was arrested for murder and attempted murder.
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with last week's fatal shooting at a Florida high school football game, authorities said.
The teen is accused of open firing outside William Marion Raines Senior High School in Jacksonville last Friday around 10 p.m. local time, just after a football game there had ended.
Joerod Adams, 19, was killed. A 17-year-old boy, who was with Adams at the time of the shooting, and 16-year-old girl were transported to a local hospital for gunshot wounds, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
The suspect, who is a student at Grand Park Alternative School in Jacksonville, was arrested Tuesday on one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
"The suspect is a 16-year-old male. As a community, we need to stop and think about that," Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said at a press conference. "Where do we get to the point that a 16-year-old male thinks it's OK to murder someone in cold blood at a high school football game, that’s unbelievable. We have work to do as a community."
Authorities believe the suspect had been involved in a confrontation with Adams and the other male victim inside the football stadium before shots were fired. All three have ties to known criminal street gang members in Jacksonville, according to the sheriff's office.
Investigators learned that several fights broke out in the stands during Friday night's game, and Adams was ejected out of the stadium by school police officers. They believe the suspect, who was wielding a handgun, encountered Adams and the other male victim along a sidewalk that went from the stadium to the school entrance. He allegedly targeted the pair as crowds were leaving the game, the sheriff's office said.
The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
"There is a lot of work that needs to be done citywide. If you get involved in the [life] of a young person early, and you keep them off a street corner by keeping them busy with after-school activities and summer programs, they never get involved in some of this type of activity," Williams told reporters. "At the end of the day, we have got to get ahead of it and get engaged in these kids' lives early, so they never go down this path."
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