An arrest has been made for a 16-year-old boy who is suspected of killing an 11-year-old in a Minneapolis park last month.
The teen was caught in Apple Valley, Minnesota, Tuesday morning, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
Gunfire broke out in the park on June 23, according to the police. People on a nearby porch heard cries for help and went to investigate. They found a boy with a gunshot wound who turned out to be Amir Lamar Atkins. He started to take the boy to the hospital and stopped an officer near Penn and Dowling.
Even though first rescuers tried to save him, the boy died at the scene.
The teen will not be charged with murder, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, “because there is evidence of self-defense.” Instead, the teen is being charged with one count of having a gun while under 18 years old.
Amir Atkins, an 11-year-old boy, was killed. “This case is a tragedy in every way,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. We should all be sad about Amir’s death and think again about what went wrong with the system, like giving kids easy access to guns, that caused an 11-year-old to die in this way. Everything Amir did at the time showed that he was a kid. He earned the chance to live a full life.
Charges say Atkins leaned out of the front passenger seat of a Kia Optima and held what looked like a gun while the car drove badly through the park. He kept the gun in his hand as the Kia turned toward a group of people near a Honda Fit.
The complaint made in juvenile court says that surveillance video shows the suspect jump into the back seat of the Honda and quickly come out with a gun, firing several shots.
“How did two of these young babies get access to these firearms?” This is what Muhammad Abdul-Ahad of TOUCH Outreach said.
It’s important to find an answer to this question, he says, so that young lives can be saved.
“I know it’s not just the county or the MPD.” Abdul-Ahad said, “Each of us needs to do our part to make things better and hold our youth responsible.”
Abdul-Ahad thinks that this tragedy will be the step that ends gun violence among young people.
“We can do better and I believe it takes a village,” he stated.
People in the neighborhood and activists got together after the shooting to demand change.
An organizer named Angela Williams said, “We need to just really take responsibility.” “Come on, parents, that’s not acceptable.”
Atkins’ family started an online fundraiser and said that he “was a beacon of light in our lives—a joyful, loving child whose laughter filled our hearts.”
On Wednesday, Atkins’ family told WCCO that they are not ready to talk about the choice yet, but they will do what’s right.
