() — A 12-year-old Milwaukee boy could go to jail for the rest of his life after being accused of killing an adult to steal their guns. Police say the defendant hatched the scheme after the victim, 34-year-old Brandon Felton, refused to sell him his weapons, including an AR-15 rifle.
The defendant, whose name has not been released due to his age, was linked to the case after police found a pizza receipt from the night of the murder that had been ordered using the boy’s mobile phone, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators say the boy made a series of incoherent statements to police before acknowledging that he was there at the time of the murder, but said he was only there to play video games and blamed someone else for the slaying.
However, police said texts obtained from the boy’s phone through a search warrant showed that he was making plans with two other people to steal the guns. The court document stated that on the day of the murder, a text from the defendant’s phone read: “I’m going to do it to Brandan [sic]”. The text conversation shows that the defendant later said that he had a gun and asked: “should I kill him? [ahora mismo]?” The person on the other end of the conversation said, “Noooo,” but the defendant allegedly replied, “I’m going to hit him, I don’t have time for a guy to go after my family.”
Police say the defendant later confessed to his mother that he had lied to police and intended to take Felton’s guns because he did not want to sell them.
The minor is charged with first degree intentional homicide and faces life in prison if convicted. During a preliminary hearing held this Monday, the court set the minor’s bail at US$100,000. contacted his public defender for comment Tuesday night.
