A 16-year-old accused of killing his 13-year-old brother was taken into custody without incident by U.S. Marshals on Friday evening, Sgt. Dana Pierce with Cobb County police said.
Oscar Mondragon was found hiding in a trailer at the Edengate Mobile Home Park in the 200 block of Clay Drive in Marietta, police said.
He has been charged as an adult with felony murder and aggravated assault, Pierce said. He is in the Marietta Youth Detention Center.
Officers responding to a 9:24 p.m. 911 call about a shooting at the Eastside Mobile Home Park on Eastside Drive found the younger boy dead inside the trailer, Pierce said. Police did not release the name of the victim, but neighbors told the AJC the boy who died was Javier Mondragon, one of six children living in the home.
Police have not yet determined what led to the shooting and whether or not it was accidental, Pierce said. Neighbors told the AJC that three brothers were seen playing with a gun outside their Cobb County home earlier Thursday.
Friends and neighbors at the mobile home park described Javier as a polite boy who was looking forward to being a seventh-grader at Griffin Middle School in the fall.
"He was the best friend I've ever had," Emoni Jones, 13, told the AJC as her mother, Errietta Jones, stood beside her. "I tell him everything and I trust him with everything. He didn't deserve to die like that."
Oscar Mondragon, neighbors told the AJC, is the opposite.
The suspect has never attended a Cobb County high school, Jay Dillon, district spokesman, told the AJC. Earlier reports indicated the teen had attended Osborne High School.
Oscar Mondragon was often in trouble for having drugs or fighting, and bragged of having weapons, Sherly Parada, 15, told the AJC. Parade said Oscar, Javier and a younger brother were all playing with a gun outside earlier Thursday, hours before Javier was killed.
Errietta Jones told the AJC she also saw the boys playing with guns, but assumed they were toys.
"They were running around the house playing with guns," Jones said. "I didn’t even think, ‘Are those for real?' "
--Mike Morris and Angel K. Brooks contributed to this article.
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