Teen Held in Slaying of Boy, 11, on San Bernardino Schoolyard

San Bernardino police Wednesday arrested a teenager accused of shooting and killing an 11-year-old boy who was at a neighborhood schoolyard playing basketball with his friends and two brothers last week.

James Lamont Bagsby, 15, of San Bernardino has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Anthony Michael Ramirez. Bagsby also faces a count of attempted murder in the wounding of Ramirez’s 13-year-old brother Joseph, and eight to nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly shooting at the other children on the basketball court.

John P. Kochis, chief deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County, said Bagsby will be tried as an adult and could be sentenced to life in state prison if convicted on all counts.

“We feel, based on the crime that was committed, that this individual is a danger to the community and should be held responsible as an adult,” Kochis said.

San Bernardino school police received a tip to Bagsby’s location Wednesday morning, and officers surrounded an apartment at the Arbor Courts complex, less than three miles from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, where the shootings occurred.

Police said Bagsby had been seen in the apartment and was taken into custody without a struggle. A regional manhunt for Bagsby was launched shortly after the June 21 shooting.

At a news conference in front of San Bernardino City Hall on Wednesday, Mayor Pat Morris praised the cooperation between police detectives, school police and the person who provided information about the suspect.

“I’m confident that this continuing collaboration will discourage others from similar acts of tragic misconduct,” Morris said.

“I send from this city a warning to all who would come to us, as Mr. Bagsby did, with the intent of doing harm: We will find you. We will take you into custody and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Do not come to our city.”

Morris said Bagsby had been in a group home for juveniles in Victorville, and was missing from the facility at the time of the shooting. Morris said he could not disclose why Bagsby had been detained in the home because Bagsby is a juvenile.

On the evening of June 21, Bagsby allegedly approached the group of boys at the school, asking them where they were from and whether they were part of a San Bernardino gang, which they said they were not.

A short time later, Bagsby pulled a handgun from his waist and began shooting, striking Anthony Ramirez in the back and Joseph Ramirez in the right hand, witnesses said.

Police said the Ramirez boys were not involved with gangs and that the attack was unprovoked.

Bagsby was scheduled to be arraigned in San Bernardino today and was being held at San Bernardino Juvenile Hall.

Police are still searching for a suspect in another homicide and investigating two others that occurred in the last week.

They are seeking Keith Warren Thomas, 22, in the June 24 death of 16-year-old Traveil Williams in a dispute over a cellphone as Williams stood outside his apartment in the 400 block of Orange Street.

They have no suspects in the deaths of Hyven Howard, 29, and Charmaine Sweatt, 28, who were found dead Monday of multiple gunshot wounds in their home in the 1500 block Pumalo Street.

Police said there have been 34 homicides in the city this year -- 31 that were crimes and three justifiable homicides. There were 58 homicides last year.