The final suspect in a Philadelphia 14-year-old’s November shooting death was arrested Tuesday in northwest Atlanta, officials said, nearly a month after another suspect was arrested in Hall County.
Samir Jefferson was shot and killed in broad daylight Nov. 29. Authorities described the killing as an “ambush,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported previously.
Jefferson had been waiting for a bus in front of a Rite Aid in North Philadelphia when two suspects pulled up in one or two vehicles and began shooting, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The boy ran about 200 feet as the two shooters chased him, leaving a trail of at least 35 shell casings from two separate guns. Jefferson collapsed on the sidewalk after being shot at least 10 times. He died at a hospital.
Investigators quickly identified multiple suspects: Quadir Johnson, 20; Kyair Garnett, 21; Haneef Roberson, 20; and Jahlil Williams, 23.
Johnson and Garnett were arrested in Philadelphia shortly after the shooting, the Inquirer reported. Roberson was arrested Jan. 9 at a Hall County Walmart.
Williams was arrested Tuesday morning after investigators received information that he may have been hiding in a short-term residence in Atlanta, according to a U.S. Marshals Service news release. A Georgia State Patrol SWAT team executed a search warrant at the residence in the 100 block of Holly Road and took Williams into custody. He was taken to the Fulton County jail, where he awaits extradition to Philadelphia.
“The arrest of Jahlil Williams, the fourth perpetrator involved in this horrific shooting, demonstrates the unwavering commitment of the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department to bring fugitives to justice from anywhere in the world,” Eric Gartner, U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “Our sincerest hope is that this arrest will help bring some semblance of closure to the Jefferson family, and to Samir’s fellow 9th graders who were impacted by this senseless murder.”
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