'He didn't deserve this': Boy accused of murdering fellow 10-year-old boy with felonious father's forbidden gun

A 10-year-old boy in the Foothill Farms area of Sacramento County was arrested over the weekend and charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Keith Frierson, also 10.

According to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to the 4700 block of Greenholme Drive around 4:30 p.m. Saturday in response to a report of a shooting. They found Frierson unresponsive in the middle of the parking lot and bleeding from his head and neck. Deputies administered CPR and life-saving efforts until members of the Sacramento Metro Fire District arrived and did likewise.

The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his wounds.

"He was smart, very intelligent, kind, loving, respectful," Erika, the victim's aunt, told KCRA-TV. "He didn't deserve this. He still had a whole life to live."

Erika indicated that "he wasn't even outside 15 minutes, and the little boy shot my nephew."

A friend of the victim's mother indicated on the page of a fundraiser for the family that Frierson had gone outside after completing his chores to ride around on his "new Christmas bike—a joyful moment turned to sorrow."

"He said, 'Can I go ride my bike?' That’s the last time I saw my baby alive," Brittani Frierson, the boy's mother, told KXTV-TV. "Next time I saw my baby, he was gone on this ground."

Witnesses told deputies the individual responsible ducked into a nearby apartment after the shooting. Upon identifying the apartment, deputies called out the adult and two juveniles inside, detaining all three. The adult they arrested has been identified as Arkete Davis, 53.

The New York Post indicated Davis is a felon with an extensive criminal history of fraud, theft, and drug charges, having run afoul of the law both in California and Texas.

On the basis of witness interviews and evidence found at the scene, detectives deduced that Davis' 10-year-old son went to his father's car to get the felon a pack of cigarettes. The SCSO indicated the suspect "took a gun from inside the vehicle and bragged that his father had a gun."

Officials confirmed that Davis is legally prohibited from possessing or owning a firearm. The likely murder weapon recovered at the scene was reported stolen in 2017.

After bragging about having his father's verboten gun, the suspect allegedly shot the victim then fled. His father is suspected of trying to dispose of the gun in a nearby trashcan where it was later found by detectives.

The suspect was taken to the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility. A SCSO spokesman told the Post that if the criminal case against the 10-year-old suspect proceeds and he is convicted, he could possibly wind up incarcerated until the age of 25.

The suspect's father was arrested and taken to the Sacramento County Main Jail. Jail records indicate Davis was charged with five felonies, including carrying a stolen, loaded firearm in a vehicle; endangering the life or health of a child; and accessory after the fact. Davis' bail was set at $500,000. He is set to appear in court on Wednesday.

KCRA reported that members of the victim's family hold the suspect's parents just as responsible as the shooter.

"Any parent in their right mind should know how to keep an armed weapon secure. My nephew's blood is on y'all hands. Y'all allowed y'all son to do this to my 10-year-old nephew," said Erika. "Y'all parents need to know how to put y'all weapons away. Teach y'all kids right. Because this wasn't right."

Child identified as victim in Sacramento County shooting allegedly by another 10-year-oldyoutu.be

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