High school junior suspected in Walmart shooting appears in court

The Colerain Twp. teenager charged in the shooting at Walmart last weekend will remain in the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center until his pretrial hearing next week.

The 16-year-old high school junior, who was arrested Tuesday afternoon at Colerain High School, is charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and felonious assault, a second-degree felony. No bond was set.

MORE: Walmart parking lot shooting involved stolen car, drug deal gone bad

The Colerain student is charged in connection with an alleged robbery of a 17-year-old around 3 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the Walmart parking lot in Fairfield Twp. Police say the 16-year-old allegedly shot a 17-year-old in the leg and fled with cash in the middle of a suspected drug deal that was set up through social media. The alleged shooter then fled the parking lot.

The shooting victim was in his vehicle at the time of the shooting and accelerated his car into a cart corral and other vehicles in the parking lot.

The boy was arraigned Wednesday morning before juvenile court Magistrate Michael Braun and will be back in court at 9 a.m. on Feb. 2 for a pretrial hearing before Butler County Juvenile Court Judge Ron Craft.

The 16-year-old fled the parking lot, and police believe he was picked up in the same vehicle that dropped him off at Walmart, a stolen red 2007 Toyota Camry which has since been recovered.

Capt. Doug Lanier said detectives are working to piece together surveillance video of the parking lot and have been in contact with the 17-year-old male and his family in gathering information. The 17-year-old was treated and released from West Chester Hospital.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with any information should call Fairfield Twp. detectives at 513-785-4178, or reach out to CrimeStoppers at 513-352-3040.

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