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Police Announce Arrest In Iraqi Immigrant’s Shooting Death

Family photo

Dallas homicide detectives arrested 17-year old Nykerion Nealon in the shooting death of AhmedAl-Jumaili. Al-Jumaili, an Iraqi Muslim immigrant, was shot and killed when he went outside to take photos of a snowstorm last week in Northeast Dallas.

Maj. Jeff Cotner says police do not think Nealon knew Al-Jumaili or his ethnicity. Nealon filed a report concerning a shooting near his girlfriend's apartment. A witness says Nealon went outside with an assault rifle, intending to shoot the person responsible. Cotner says police are still investigating whether the three individuals in the surveillance video had any involvement in the shooting.

 Original Post: 

Nora Rangel is a neighbor of Al-Jumaili. She told KERA’s Stella Chavez the gunshots startled her daughter.

"She stood up and shouted, 'Mom, I hear gunshots," Rangel said. "We didn't want to go outside, so we looked out the windows from the balcony. That's when I saw the man's wife running..." "A few seconds passed and the woman began screaming, 'Somebody help me!" They opened their apartment door and saw an injured Al-Jumaili bleeding near his door. Rangel’s daughter and husband each called 911. The weather was deteriorating. "The snow was coming down hard and it was very windy," Rangel said. "They moved his body inside the apartment."

Watch the NBC 5 live stream of the press conference:

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.
Stella M. Chávez is an investigative reporter for The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration between NPR and member stations around the state. She's based at KERA in Dallas and is currently reporting on how state government is working with federal agencies on immigration enforcement and border security.