Teen arrested in killing of boy

A teenager booked into Broward’s jail early Monday is wanted in New Jersey for the shooting death of a 10-year-old boy, prosecutors said.

In a Facebook posting Sunday night, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said “18-year-old Karon Council, the alleged killer of a 10-year-old Asbury Park boy, has been apprehended in Pompano Beach, Florida.”

The posting noted cooperation from the U.S. Marshals of Florida, the Regional Fugitive Task Force and others.

Council, of Neptune Township in New Jersey, was booked into jail in Broward shortly after 4:30 a.m., records show.

He is awaiting extradition to New Jersey to face charges, Monmouth County officials said.

Shortly after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Yovanni Banos-Merino, 10, and his mother Lilia Merino, 30, were found shot inside an Asbury Park home by police investigating reports of gunfire, New Jersey authorities said. Yovanni would later die while his mother was treated at a hospital and released.

Within 24 hours, investigators arrested and charged a 16-year-old boy in connection with the fatal shooting.

By Friday, Council was linked to the shooting and investigators said he would be charged with multiple offenses, including murder, when he was apprehended, the prosecutor’s office said.

Yovanni was not the target of the shooting, Assistant U.S. Marshal Manny Puri said in a statement to the Asbury Park Press.

Council was after a man he had a dispute with and when he couldn’t find that person “he took it out on” his target’s girlfriend’s family, Puri said.

“Council was a very dangerous fugitive with no sense of value for life and could of easily continued his violent behavior in South Florida,” Puri’s statement said.