18-year-old Ankeny teenager sentenced to life in prison for Independence Day murder
An 18-year-old from Ankeny has been sentenced to life in prison for the July 4 murder of a teenager in Fort Dodge.
Police say 18-year-old Jamarrion J. Davis shot 15-year-old Jameel C. Redding-Pettigrew multiple times as an act of revenge because Redding-Pettigrew's older brother allegedly killed someone he knew earlier in the year. Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder in October.
Police received a 911 call at approximately 9:45 p.m. on July 4 reporting someone had been shot near 15th Street and Fourth Avenue South. Fort Dodge Police Department officers found Redding-Pettigrew there but he was pronounced dead at the scene after first responders attempted to save him.
Witnesses said they saw Davis chase after Redding-Pettigrew after he had left a nearby house party. Witnesses told police Davis had learned that Redding-Pettigrew was the younger brother of the person who had allegedly killed an associate of his in May.
Surveillance footage police found in their investigation showed Davis shoot at Redding-Pettigrew twice, causing him to fall to the ground. Davis then stood over Redding-Pettigrew and shot him some more.
Davis was arrested July 6 in Fort Dodge, pleaded not guilty, was found guilty Oct. 3 and sentenced Oct. 31.
He's also been ordered to pay $150,000 in special victim restitution to Redding-Pettigrew's family or his estate, according to court documents.
Judge Kurt J. Stoebe denied Davis' request for a new trial. Davis has appealed his conviction.
He had a prior conviction of going armed with intent and being a minor in possession of a dangerous weapon after a gang-related shooting in Fort Dodge in July 2022, for which he received a six-year suspended sentence and three years probation.
Fort Dodge city officials released a letter the day after the July 4 shooting addressing "an uptick in criminal activity that, in several cases, appears to originate from a specific group of individuals."
"These individuals are choosing to engage in targeted violence directed toward one another," read the letter, signed by Mayor Matt Bemrich, City Manager David Fierke and Fort Dodge Police Chief Dennis Quinn. "This violence cannot and will not be tolerated in Fort Dodge and is made more concerning due to the involvement of some of our community's youth."
Redding-Pettigrew's death came just over two weeks after a shooting in Fort Dodge killed 14-year-old Dakari Jayvon James. The alleged shooter, 19-year-old Isaac Alexander Bachman, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Bachman's trial is scheduled for February.
The July letter from city officials stated the police department was partnering with other local and statewide law enforcement to "proactively police Fort Dodge" and called upon citizens to report suspicious behavior, safely store firearms and register their home or business security cameras to the city's Community Camera Project.
Phillip Sitter focuses on covering growth and development in the western metro suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ankeny teenager sentenced to life in prison for 15-year-old's murder
