Metro 16-Year-Old Arrested In Connection To Deadly Shooting Of Teenage Friend

A metro family is mourning the loss of their 16-year-old loved one who was killed Thursday night on the city's southwest side. 

Oklahoma City Police arrested the victim’s teenage friend in connection to the deadly shooting.

Flowers were placed in a drainage ditch near Southwest 72nd and Indiana Avenue to mark the spot where the teenager died. 

Police were called to the area on reports of gunshots just before 10 p.m. Neighbors reported hearing two gunshots.

“This was in a drainage ditch or culvert that lines in between the back side of businesses and the south tip of a neighborhood,” Sgt. Dillon Quirk with the Oklahoma City Police Department said.

A witness told investigators they saw the victim and the 16-year-old suspect in the ditch at the time of the shooting. 

The same witness told officers they saw the suspect run from the area. The tip led to a large police presence in the neighborhood.

“We’re just looking all over right now just to see if anybody is out and about,” Lt. Jeff Cooper with the Oklahoma City Police Department said.  

Police said the shooting was not a random act but were not sure of the motive behind the killing.

“These two know each other in some way,” Quirk said.   

The victim's family gave News 9 insight into the friendship. They said the suspect often stayed at their home. They felt betrayed that the teenager was accused of taking his friend's life. They also said it was common for the victim to cut through the culvert on his way home from work.

Hours into the investigation, police located the suspect and arrested him at a home four blocks from the scene.

“That person was taken into custody,” Quirk said.

The suspect is in custody at the Oklahoma County Juvenile Detention Center on one first-degree murder complaint. He has not been formally charged by the District Attorney.