DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A 16-year-old boy is dead and DeKalb County police say his friend is the main suspect in the case.
Tuesday, family members identified the victim as, 16-year-old Ashton Nicholas Moon.
“It hurts me because I saw him born, but we are asking for prayers, we are,” family friend Kennsha Wilcox told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington on Tuesday. “It’s sad. We have lost a young person.”
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DeKalb County police said shortly after 6 p.m. Monday evening they responded to the Oak Forest Apartments on Hatton Drive and found Ashton Moon suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso. He later died at the hospital.
Police took a person into custody. They said the suspect knew the victim.
Moon’s family told Washington the suspect was a long-time friend of the teenager.
“He was a good young man. He had a heart. He had a heart of gold,” Ashton Moon’s grandmother said.
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What led up to the shooting is still unclear.
“To my understanding, I don’t know the details. It was a misunderstanding,” Wilcox said. “We’ve got to find something for our youth to do. It’s lots of crime, unnecessary crime.”
Moon’s grandmother said, though heartbroken, she has peace knowing her grandson is in a better place.
“And I know he’s resting. We’ve all got to leave this world one day, but I’m going to miss Ashton,” she said.
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