Teenager charged in Westland Mall murder
Video surveillance helped lead to arrest
A 17-year-old juvenile has been arrested for the fatal shooting of a man Sept. 20 in a parking lot at the former Westland Mall, the Franklin County Sheriff's office said.
Javontae Williams was arrested in the Mansfield area and will need to be extradited back here, Maureen Kocot, a sheriff's office spokeswoman, said Thursday.
Williams is charged with a delinquency count of aggravated murder, accused of killing 21-year-old Sage Martin outside the former mall located near the intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Interstate 270 on the West Side.
Video surveillance of the parking lot, along with physical evidence collected from the scene, led sheriff's detectives to charge Williams, Kocot said.
Williams and Martin knew each other, Kocot said.
Around 4 p.m. Sept. 20, a gun show being held in part of the former 860,000-square-foot mall was wrapping up.
A 34-year-old woman, who attended the show with her young daughter, told The Dispatch that a number of young men were standing around and talking near a silver SUV.
Then suddenly, she heard a barrage of gunfire.
The woman, who identified herself to The Dispatch but whose name is being withheld for her safety and that of her daughter, ran to some bushes and covered her daughter. She said she saw a young man hanging out the window of a black sedan, firing a gun toward her direction.
The woman and her daughter were unharmed. jwoods@dispatch.com @Woodsnight