Youth to Be Tried as Adult in Scout’s Death
A 17-year-old reputed gang member was ordered this week to be prosecuted as an adult in the Inglewood shooting of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Explorer scout.
Juvenile Court Commissioner Kirkland Jones granted a motion by the district attorney’s office, which argued that Omar Butler was unsuitable to be prosecuted as a juvenile.
If convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, Butler would face a term of 25 years to life.
Butler was arrested Dec. 9 at a Watts boarding house following a lengthy investigation into the Sept. 18 shooting death of Anthony Jerome Gardner, 19, a sheriff’s explorer scout who worked as a volunteer at the Carson substation.
Investigators said Gardner was gunned down from a passing car in the 10200 block of South Haas Avenue near Inglewood as he was talking to four other people in the street, advising them that a rival gang had been seen in the area.
Prosecutors were expected to refile murder and attempted murder charges against Butler in Municipal Court this week.
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