New Orleans police arrest 15-year-old suspect in killing of Warren Easton student

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A 15-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a Warren Easton High School student, New Orleans police said Tuesday night (Feb. 14).

The NOPD said it booked the juvenile -- whose identity was not disclosed -- with negligent homicide in connection with Monday night’s fatal shooting of 15-year-old Tyler Ellis. An arrest warrant already has been obtained, police said.

Ellis was shot Monday shortly before 9 p.m., in the 3000 block of St. Roch Avenue. Ellis was rushed for treatment, but died at the hospital. The NOPD said its homicide investigators “determined the incident to be accidental in nature,” and said the juvenile suspect was booked accordingly into the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center.

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Negligent homicide carries a potential state prison sentence of up to five years for adults. If the suspect in Ellis’ killing is adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile justice system, the duration of his detention would be determined by a Juvenile Court judge, but could last no longer than his 21st birthday.

Ellis’ death marks the second time in just over two weeks a Warren Easton student has died in a shooting.

“They’re just young kids. These kids never even hit 10th grade,” said Wallace Foster IV, a football teammate of Ellis.

Kennedi Belton, also 15, was killed in what police also called a negligent homicide on Jan. 29 in the 8000 block of Curran Boulevard. The NOPD arrested 19-year-old Andre Skinner in connection to that shooting. He faces one count of negligent homicide in adult court.

“When I think about those things, I just think about those people’s parents and stuff like that. How they feeling,” Foster said. “It’s so tragic, and I hate to see it happen to our young Black kings and queens.”

Foster said he understood Ellis and Belton had been close friends.

“It’s just so hard to see someone like that go down, someone just chasing their dream,” Foster said.

New Orleans City Councilman Eugene Green, who represents the district where Ellis lived, said the two student deaths were not only affecting the Warren Easton community, but the entire city.

“We’ve got to do something to get people to think more about the dangerous nature of the gun itself, certainly in the hands of someone who’s not taking responsible use of it,” Green said. “At the end of the day, we just have too much going on in our city where guns are being used to settle disputes and to also create situations that wouldn’t exist if the gun wasn’t there. So, I have extreme sympathy and my condolences to the family.”

Anyone with information on Ellis’ fatal shooting is asked to contact NOPD homicide detective Jamaane Roy at (504) 658-5300 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.

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