Man charged in the homicide of 13-year-old Jamarri Paige, who was fatally struck when his house was shot up
An 18-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged with reckless homicide in connection with the death of 13-year-old Jamarri Paige, who died inside his home after being struck by gunfire from outside the home.
Lazarus McAdoo was charged Friday by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office with first-degree reckless homicide. McAdoo has denied being the shooter, but said he drove the getaway car, prosecutors said. If convicted, he faces up to 65 years in prison.
According to a criminal complaint:
On Feb. 19 around 6:30 p.m., Jamarri's mother had just called for him to get his dinner plate when gunfire erupted from outside the home on the 4100 block of North 47th Street.
Jamarri was struck in the chest and shoulder and soon died. The mother said after the shooting she ran outside and saw a car stopped at a nearby intersection. The driver got out and made a comment like, "That's what that was!" He then drove away. The mother later identified the driver in a photo line-up.
The mother said that she had been having problems with members of another group of family and friends, and that a woman from the group threatened to shoot up the mother's house. The mother said the ongoing argument stemmed from a relationship she had with a man, who was also in a relationship with a woman from the other group.
That same evening as Jamarri's homicide, a house on the 2100 block of North 26th Street was also shot up. The house is where an aunt of the man from the mother's relationship lived. The bullet casings from both scenes matched.
Video from the North 47th Street shooting shows a silver Chrysler Sebring leaving the area right after the shooting. Police later identified the car as belonging to McAdoo's father. On March 5, police located and stopped the car, and identifed the driver as McAdoo.
McAdoo denied being the shooter but said he followed a group of people that he was with at a family gathering who were going to the house on North 47th Street to shoot an occupant. He said after the shooting the shooter got in his car and he drove back to the family gathering.
Prosecutors said that a search of location data for his phone shows it present at both shootings and that internet searches reveal that searches from the phone were made inquiring about firearms.
McAdoo is currently in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail. He makes an initial court appearance on June 6.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Man charged with the homicide of the 13-year-old Jamarri Paige
