On a summer evening in Omaha, Nebraska, 31-year-old Jamymell Ray, a Black / African American male, went to Miller Park on June 29, 2015, for what would be his final encounter. He had arranged to meet three individuals to sell them marijuana. Tragically, the supposed drug deal was a setup for a robbery that quickly escalated into a fatal shooting. Ray was shot and later died from his injuries.
A second man with Ray, 30-year-old Charles Fisher, was also shot but survived.
The ensuing investigation revealed that the perpetrators were surprisingly young: 17-year-old Jamar Milton, his 12-year-old brother Jarrell Milton, and their 15-year-old friend, Shuntayvious Primes-Willis. Authorities reported that all three individuals were armed and had planned to rob Ray. Two different types of shell casings found at the scene indicated that multiple guns were fired during the incident.
A manhunt for the young suspects was launched. Jamar Milton and Shuntayvious Primes-Willis were apprehended in Omaha. The youngest, Jarrell Milton, fled the state but was later arrested by U.S. Marshals in Minneapolis, roughly 400 miles from the scene of the crime. All three were charged with first-degree murder. Despite their ages, Jamar Milton and Shuntayvious Primes-Willis were charged as adults.
In the subsequent legal proceedings, Shuntayvious Primes-Willis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a weapons charge, receiving a sentence of 30 to 50 years in prison. Jamar Milton was also convicted and sentenced to 58 to 82 years in prison on charges including second-degree murder and first-degree assault. Due to his age, Jarrell Milton's case was handled in the juvenile court system, where he was ordered to remain under the court's jurisdiction until he turned 19. The father of the Milton brothers, who was serving a life sentence for a separate murder, expressed remorse for the example he had set for his sons.
