DOTHAN, AL – A young teenager has been arrested and charged with 2 counts of homicide for the shooting deaths of two women that occurred on Sunday, November 20th.
The accused teenager already had a warrant for his arrest at the time of the shooting for assault and shooting a gun into a vehicle from an incident reported in July of this year.
Dothan, Alabama police have identified 14-year-old Vincent Lamar Oliver Jr. as a suspect in the murder of two women.
Oliver is wanted on 2 counts of Capital Murder in the deaths of 21-year-old Jasmine Danielle Bean and 20-year-old Ja’Lexius Lashon Wells. pic.twitter.com/KjCTIK9e1p— 𝓑𝓔𝓔.𝓗𝓐𝓡𝓚𝓘𝓝𝓢 (@LADDY__BEE) November 22, 2022
Typical 14-year-old teenagers are concerned about playing video games, sports, or keeping up with their friends and not carrying a gun while having two active warrants (juvenile take into custody orders) for their arrest. Yet, in Dothan, Alabama, the latter is allegedly true after police arrested and charged a teenager, Vincent Lamar Oliver, Jr., with two counts of homicide.
Officers with the Dothan Police Department received a call for shots fired with two people down just after 8 p.m. on the 20th. When officers arrived in the 200 blocks of Fifth Avenue area, they found two women who had been shot and killed and no one else in the area.
Investigators identified the two women shot and killed as 21-year-old Jasmine Danielle Bean and Ja’Lexius Lashon Wells, 20 years old. Detectives advised that neither of the women lived at the incident location and have not reported who may have called 911 to report the incident.
Investigators have released very few details of the events that night other than they do not believe the two victims in the case lived at the residence and believe they were there for some type of party, but reported finding no one at the location other than the victims.
At some point during the investigation, detectives were able to identify a potential suspect, Oliver, who had fled the scene.
These images are so disturbing. Dothan Police say 14-year-old Vincent Lamar Oliver Jr. has been taken into custody on charges of Capital Murder.
He’s accused of shooting and killing two women.
FULL STORY ➡️ https://t.co/7YnyV75iYh pic.twitter.com/wCnOPWhBuD
— Jasmine Williams (@JasmineWSFA) November 22, 2022
With an adult suspect, officers can utilize the media to release information about the suspects to aid them with taking the person into custody, however, they were initially unable to do so due to juvenile privacy laws in the state. However, detectives were able to obtain a court order authorizing the release while he was on the run.
In a press release, Dothan Police Department reported:
“Due to Alabama juvenile privacy laws, we are typically not allowed to release juvenile information. However, the courts have issued an order allowing the suspect’s information to be released to the public due to the interest of public safety.”
While the Dothan Police Department did not comment as to if Oliver has a criminal history, they did report that he was wanted at the time of the shooting for two counts of assault and shooting into a vehicle which most likely helped them in getting his information released. In the press release, they wrote:
“Oliver also has active juvenile pickup orders for two counts of Attempted Assault First Degree and one count of Discharging a Firearm into an Occupied Vehicle which occurred in July 2022…Per the court order, no further information related to Oliver can be released.”
On the 21st, officers with the Dothan Police Department were able to find and take Oliver into custody. They did not release any information as to how he was located or the circumstances surrounding it, but did state the following:
“Vincent Lamar Oliver, Jr. has been taken into custody and has [been] charged as a juvenile with two counts of Capital Murder. He will be held in the Southeast Alabama Diversion Center. Due to the restriction of a court order, no further information will be released regarding him.”
Now that Oliver has been taken into custody and hopefully held there until his court date, detectives are asking anyone with information that could further the investigation to contact them. Anyone with any information can contact the Dothan Police Department at 334 615-3000 or contact Crime Stoppers online or call them at 334793-7000.
Sadly, juvenile gun violence appears to be on the rise throughout the nation. While there are many opinions as to why that may be, some point to the popularity of “violence” which is portrayed throughout music and video games.
The Decatur Daily points out that the leading cause of death according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists firearms as a leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 17 years of age. Before firearms took the lead, vehicle crashes held that distinction.
To the dismay of some, people who are barred from owning firearms, including juveniles, are easily able to obtain firearms even though there are laws in every state that prohibit the sale and carrying of them, something noted by Brandon Watkins, the Director of the Decatur Youth Services program. He said:
“You can buy guns hand-to-hand. It’s a nationwide problem because [buying firearms is] that easy…If a kid wants a gun, it doesn’t have to be from dad’s gun case.”
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