Teen charged in Mississippi boy’s death says 19-year-old pulled the trigger

Reporting from JACKSON, Miss. —  A Mississippi teenager charged with murder in the death of a 6-year-old told investigators that the boy was actually shot by another of the three teen suspects, according to an investigator’s sworn statement.

The Associated Press obtained the sworn statement Friday from a source with knowledge of the case involving the death of Kingston Frazier. The boy was found shot to death at the side of a dead-end road inside his mother’s abandoned car, hours after someone stole the Toyota Camry from a supermarket parking lot.

Mississippi Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Rusty Clark said in the sworn statement filed in connection with the case that 17-year-old Dwan Wakefield of Ridgeland told Clark and another investigator that 19-year-old Byron McBride of Pickens was at fault.

“During this interview, Wakefield implicated Byron McBride as the person who actually stole the vehicle and shot and killed Frazier,” Clark’s statement said.

When asked for further comment, Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain declined, saying, “The court document speaks for itself.”

Wakefield, McBride and 17-year-old D’Allen Washington of Ridgeland are being held without bail in Madison County, just north of Jackson, awaiting Monday morning court appearances. It’s unclear whether any of the three have lawyers.

Though all three are charged with capital murder, only McBride could face the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for crimes committed by people younger than 18 in 2005.

Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland said Kingston was shot multiple times. Dist. Atty. Michael Guest said authorities were still looking for the gun used to kill Kingston but were confident they had enough evidence against the three teen suspects to proceed without it.

“I do not believe that it is anything other than a crime of opportunity,” Guest said, saying there was no evidence of any deeper plot besides stealing the car that Ebony Archie left running with her child inside. He said he didn’t believe anyone else was involved.

Security video shows that after Archie left her car about 1 a.m., another car drove up, and a man got out and then drove off in it. Kingston Frazier was in the back seat.

Archie’s family members told local news media Friday that she had picked up her son from his grandmother’s after going out with friends to celebrate her birthday, and was going into the Jackson supermarket to buy party supplies to celebrate Kingston’s kindergarten graduation, which was scheduled Friday.

“She feels guilty for the fact that she decided to go inside the store and leave the car running when she went inside the store,” David Archie, Ebony Archie’s uncle, told WLBT-TV.

The car was found eight hours later, abandoned in a muddy ditch about 15 miles north of Jackson in Gluckstadt. People continued to stream to the site Friday afternoon, with some leaving small memorials. One note said “Kingston R.I.P. Sweet angel fly high. You are loved and will be missed. Prayers for your family.”

Guest wouldn’t say whether any of the suspects had confessed, but Clark’s statement made clear that at least Wakefield had talked to investigators.

Breeland said an autopsy had been completed and the boy’s body released to a funeral home. However, no funeral arrangements had been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

Guest said Washington was currently under indictment for armed robbery in Madison County.

ALSO

Ohio grand jury doesn’t indict officer for fatally shooting boy, 13

Tulsa officer acquitted in man’s shooting death is returning to the police force

New Orleans removes a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from its perch of 133 years