MIAMI – Miami police remain in front of the home where a 10-year-old boy was shot and killed as he played with his basketball in March.
The front of Marlon Eason's home is littered with stuffed animals as the family continues to grieve, but they now have some closure after police announced that they made two arrests in the case.
Ernest Rowell, 18, and Khalib Newkirk, 15, were taken into custody early Saturday morning on murder charges.
According to court documents, Eason's mother confronted the teen and the young man about her son's death. Police said the pair said they were sorry and were aiming for someone else.
"The subjects indicated that the occupants of the car were gang rivals," an arrest report said. "They also tried to justify their actions by saying that they had shot Marlon Eason by accident."
"How is your daughter holding up?" Local 10 News reporter Ben Kennedy asked Eason's grandmother.
"Not too good. She's not sleeping good," Dorothy Ruffin said. "She's glad there's justice, but she's still not coping with this because she can't feel her baby no more. The ones who did it, there parents can feel them and kiss them or whatever, but we can't do that no more with our baby."
Police said the shooting happened March 24, when Rowell was 17 years old. Because Rowell was a juvenile at the time of the shooting, he will now be transferred to juvenile court, but prosecutors have said they plan to charge both teens as adults.
Police said Rowell and Newkirk could also be connected the murder of Richard Hallman, 16, who was shot and killed about two hours before Eason.
Follow Local 10 News on Twitter @WPLGLocal10