A confrontation over a childhood burglary led to the shooting death of 19-year-old Naz Moothery.
Officials arrested a 17-year-old male for the murder ofMootheryafter his body was found on April 21, at a park near 87th Avenue and Clarendon.
Phoenix police said officers were called to a park near 87th Avenue and Clarendon for a report of an unconscious man. Police say they found Moothery with a gunshot wound to the head and three shell casings on the ground.
Neighbors had told police they heard gunshots sometime between 12:45 a.m. and 2 a.m.
Later that day, a 17-year-old man, who was arrested by Glendale police for an armed robbery, told investigators he knew about a homicide that took place in the park where Moothery was found.
Detectives from Phoenix Police then interviewed the 17-year-old and later arrested and booked him for the murder.
Phoenix police said the suspect and victim are relatives. Police say the suspect reported to them that he, Moothery and a girl were at the park smoking marijuana. He also admitted to taking six Xanax pills.
He allegedly said he, “confronted Moothery about a burglary from when he was in the eighth grade, and he laughed at him.” He reportedly admitted to shooting Moothery an unknown number of times. Police say they retrieved the gun used in the armed robbery and it was the same weapon used in the murder and belonged to the victim.
The girl, who was also involved in the Glendale armed robbery, told police that the suspect later returned to the scene and sat crying over his dead relative.
He has been booked for second-degree murder and weapons misconduct.
