Final suspect arrested in Northeast Philly bus stop shooting that left 8 students wounded
Asir Boone was taken into custody in Virginia, U.S. Marshals said.
The fourth and final suspect sought in connection with a shooting at a Burholme bus stop that left eight Northeast High School students injured earlier this month has been captured.
Authorities arrested Asir Boone, 17, in Alexandria, Va., just after noon Tuesday, U.S. Marshals said. The teen had been in hiding with an unidentified woman who had ties to Philadelphia.
Boone complied with officers’ commands and was taken into custody without incident, marshals said. Authorities then took him to the Alexandria Police Department for processing.
“I hope this final arrest brings some comfort to the student victims of this senseless crime,” said Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark. “No child should have to fear for their safety while receiving an education and I hope these arrests can subside that fear.”
Authorities had called for Boone to turn himself in following the arrests of three other people in connection with the March 6 shooting at Rising Sun and Cottman Avenues. Last week, U.S. Marshals took Jermahd Carter, 19, into custody on the 12000 block of Academy Road in Northeast Philadelphia. Two other 18-year-olds, Ahnile Buggs and Jamaal Tucker, who turned himself in to police, were also arrested.
Those three are charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and related crimes. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office has approved similar charges for Boone, including firearms violations, conspiracy, and recklessly endangering another person, a spokesperson said.
Clark said it was not yet clear when Boone would be extradited back to Philadelphia to face the charges against him.
Boone’s arrest is the latest development in the Burholme shooting. Gunfire erupted just before 3 p.m. at the so-called “Five Points” intersection, which hundreds of students pass through each day to catch SEPTA buses to and from school.
Northeast High, where all eight victims attended school, is less than a mile away, and many students transfer buses at the stop where the shooting occurred.
As students gathered on the corner, a blue Hyundai sat parked in the parking lot of a nearby Dunkin’ location, police said. As a group of students approached the stop, three people wearing masks emerged from the vehicle and began shooting. Over the course of seconds, they fired more than 30 shots before returning to the vehicle to flee.
Many victims were seriously injured, including one 16-year-old who suffered nine gunshot wounds. Another 16-year-old suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, and a 15-year-old was struck in the spine.
Police recovered the Hyundai in Olney hours after the shooting, saying that it had been reported stolen and had a counterfeit temporary license plate affixed to it during the shooting.
Evidence recovered from the vehicle, as well as surveillance video from near where the car was found, led investigators to the suspects, authorities said last week. Following a search of Buggs’ home, police said they recovered a .40-caliber Glock 22 pistol with an extended magazine, laser aiming device, and a “switch,” a part that attaches to a semiautomatic firearm and makes it capable of fully automatic fire.
The Burholme shooting was one of several that left 11 juveniles shot, one fatally, in a span of three days. As a result, city leaders said they would deploy more law enforcement resources to school corridors, and that transit police would more strictly enforce lesser criminal violations and conduct more pedestrian stops.
“We will focus on prevention, intervention, and enforcement, and ... we will be unapologetic about engaging the support of every law enforcement partner who we have available to us to help us address this issue,” Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said last week.
Authorities have not yet announced a possible motive in the shooting, but said that it may have been related to a shooting outside of Imhotep Institute Charter High School that occurred two days before. That shooting left one 17-year-old dead and injured four other people, two of them students.