Alabama teen charged with murder after boy’s death

Published 2:39 pm Monday, February 15, 2021

A charge against an Alabama teenager was upgraded to capital murder after a 4-year-old boy who was shot over the weekend died Monday, police said.

Tuskegee police responding to reports of a shooting Saturday found the child suffering from a gunshot wound, the Opelika-Auburn News reported. The boy was taken to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham for treatment, but he died from his injuries around 10:45 a.m. Monday, Tuskegee Police Chief Loyd Jenkins told the newspaper.

Joshua Washington, 18, had been arrested Sunday night and was charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied building or dwelling, the newspaper reported. After the boy died, Washington was charged with capital murder, the chief said.

Washington was being held in the Macon County jail. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

More arrests are likely in connection with the shooting and the boy’s death, Jenkins told the newspaper. The investigation is ongoing and police are asking anyone with information to get in touch with them.