STOLEN GUN USED IN KILLING
Police say suspect used gun stolen from his father’s friend
A 14-year-old boy is accused of killing his cousin with a gun that police say the suspect stole from a friend of his father’s.
A 14-year-old boy is behind bars after police say he fatally shot his cousin Wednesday afternoon in a Southeast Albuquerque alleyway.
Detectives say the gun used in the killing had been stolen from a friend of the suspect’s father.
Jevyn Steadman is charged with an open count of murder in the death of 29-year-old Lawrence Howard. Steadman turned himself in Thursday afternoon but refused to speak with detectives. Due to his age, Steadman cannot be charged as an adult.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Children’s Court, officers responded to a call about the shooting around 3:30 p.m. in the 900 block of San Pedro SE, near Kathryn. Arriving officers found two women trying to resuscitate Howard in an adjacent alley.
He had been shot in the back of the head and died in a hospital, according to police. Howard’s mother, Cathy, was at the scene and said her nephew, Steadman, was the shooter.
The mother told police she was at her brother’s house with her son and another woman when Steadman showed up with some friends. She said
Steadman pulled a white handgun from a backpack and began “showing it off.”
Cathy Howard told police she yelled at her brother to take the gun away from Steadman because “he’s only 14” and shouldn’t have one. The mother said she left to pick up her dog and returned to find her son bleeding from the head in the alley.
Another woman at the home told police Steadman was arguing with his father “over nothing” when Lawrence Howard tried to calm the situation, asking the teen to step outside. The woman said she heard a gunshot shortly afterward and went outside to find Steadman holding the gun.
Police say Steadman told the woman, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean it,” before taking her cellphone and running off. The woman said Steadman “does whatever he wants” and had stolen the handgun from a friend of his father’s.
Detectives found Steadman’s Facebook profile, with pictures of him flashing cash and the white handgun that matched the description given in a police report for the stolen gun.