14-year old Pennsylvania boy gunned down while walking home

Tyler Winstead, age 14

14-year old Tyler Winstead was allegedly walking home along the road on his way back from playing basketball at a Catholic Youth Center when he was shot once in the chest, killing him.  The shooting happened during the daytime, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

From the article:

"It's terrible when you find out a teenager was shot and killed," Salavantis said. "We're going to do everything possible to find out who committed this murder." 

The news shocked 57-year-old Frank Galella, whose nephew had played basketball with Tyler on Wednesday. He couldn't understand how anyone could want to shoot Tyler. 

"He was the nicest kid you'd ever want to meet. I don't think they knew who he was," Galella said. "You couldn't meet a nicer family than this family right there. She had those kids under her thumb. This is unbelievable." 

Another neighbor, Victoria Bennett, remembers Tyler as polite young student who waved at her as he came home from GAR each day. 

"He never caused any trouble. Never. It was two doors down from his house and it was daylight," she said. "It's heartbreaking."

The shooter remains at large.  An alert has been issued for the suspect.

UPDATE (8/31/12):  It turns out that this isn't a homicide.  Rather, it was an accidental shooting of the boy by his friend, Elija Yuseff, with a gun that Yuseff brought from home.  Yuseff's mother, Angelina Deabreu, then tried to cover up the shooting and make it look like a drive-by.  She has since been caught.  From an article and news video:

Some neighbors on Hill Street say they knew from the beginning that the initial story of a drive-by shooting didn’t add up.

No words from Angelina Deabreu as she walked into a Magistrate’s Office in Wilkes-Barre.

Deabreu surrendered after police accused her of covering up the circumstances of the shooting death of Tyler Winstead, 14, in April.

Initially, police investigated the death as a drive-by shooting, but authorities said they soon realized something else happened.

“While we did the investigation we realized that she did conceal evidence that would have led to us finding out what happened to a young man that lost his life,” said Luzerne County DistrictAttorney Stefanie Salavantis.

Court documents show Winstead’s friend Elijah Yuseff accidentally shot Winstead with a gun from his home on Hill Street in Wilkes-Barre, and Deabreu helped cover it up. Deabreu now faces charges of tampering with evidence, corruption, and giving false reports to police.

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