KUANTRAE MASSEY - 16 yo - / Accused: Larren Carroll - Bloomington, IL

Teen formally charged in shooting



BLOOMINGTON — A Bloomington teen was formally charged with five felony charges in connection with the shooting of 16-year-old Kuantrae “Trae” Massey on Jan. 21.

Larron D. Carroll, 17, of Northfield Drive, Normal, was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, involuntary manslaughter, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful use of a stolen firearm and aggravated battery with a stolen firearm. Bond was set at $500,000 and he is due in court for arraignment on Feb. 15.

Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Workman said Massey was shot in the living room of an apartment at 5 Ginger Trail in the Danbury Court Apartments. The weapon was a .357 Taurus Revolver that Workman said was stolen from a nearby apartment. Police said they later found the gun in a tree line near the apartment complex.

Workman said that police found a cell phone belonging to Carroll which contained digital images of him with possession of the gun just one hour prior to the incident.

Massey was attending the Regional Alternative School in Bloomington, but he had attended NCHS as a freshman. McLean County Unit 5 officials confirmed that Carroll is an NCHS student

This story will be updated.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/teen-formallycharged-in-shooting/article_77a50af8-6be0-11e2-ace6-001a4bcf887a.html

Here's a local crime. I did not post it right away since they did not know the shooter. Sad that youth's turn to violence. Two were arrested with one being 15. Larren is only 17. William

Two teens arrested in connection with Massey shooting death

BLOOMINGTON — A 17-year-old boy from Normal was arrested Wednesday in the Jan. 21 shooting death of a Bloomington teenager.

Normal Community High School student Larron D. Carroll of Northfield Drive, Normal, was arrested at the Bloomington police station after an interview with detectives, said Bloomington police spokesman Dave White.

Carroll is accused in the death of Kuantrae “Trae” Massey, 16, who was shot at his home at 2 Ginger Trail in the Danbury Court Apartments and was pronounced dead at 3:19 p.m. at OSF. St. Joseph Medical Center, Bloomington. McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling said Wednesday that Massey was shot once in the chest.

While no formal charges were filed as of Wednesday, Carroll was jailed on preliminary charges of involuntary manslaughter, possession of a stolen firearm and obstruction of justice. Carroll is expected to appear in court Thursday.

White said police still are not disclosing the circumstances of the shooting, but state law defines involuntary manslaughter as causing the death of another through a reckless action.

“I don’t know how the two were associated, whether friend or foe,” White said of Carroll and Massey.

A 16-year-old boy was arrested along with Carroll on a preliminary charge of obstructing justice, but White said he had no information on what actions prompted that charge. The boy was released to his parents, White said.

Witnesses called police about 2:48 p.m. Jan. 21 to report hearing a lot of noise and arguing at the southwest Bloomington apartment complex and then hearing someone say a person had been shot, White said. Massey was carried to a private car by relatives and driven to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead in the emergency room, authorities said.

White said the investigation continues, and anyone with information is asked to call detectives Matt Dick at 434-2475 or Jared Roth at 434-2379.

Massey was attending the Regional Alternative School in Bloomington, but he had attended NCHS as a freshman. McLean County Unit 5 officials confirmed that Carroll is an NCHS student but released no more information on him.

Phyllis Coulter contributed to this report.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-teens-arrested-in-connection-with-massey-shooting-death/article_fc038a46-6b26-11e2-bab1-001a4bcf887a.html

Disturbance reported at Bloomington apartments before teen was killed


Bloomington police use a metal detector as they look for evidence in the shooting death of a 16-year old male, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, on Ginger Trail, in the Danbury Court Apartments in southwest Bloomington. (The Pantagraph, David Proeber)

January 22, 2013 11:45 pm • By Phyllis Coulter | pcoulter@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON — As authorities continued Tuesday to investigate the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old Bloomington boy, his teachers said they will mourn the loss of his potential and miss his ready smile.

Preliminary autopsy results indicated Tuesday that Kuantrae “Trae” Massey “died as a result of being shot, and that he was shot by another individual,” McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling said in a statement.

He was pronounced dead at 3:19 p.m. Monday at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, Bloomington. Relatives drove him from Danbury Court Apartments, where he had lived on Ginger Trail, to the hospital after a disturbance was reported about half an hour before, authorities said.

Police said no arrests had been made as of Tuesday evening, and no information on motive or the circumstances of the shooting was released.

“It comes as a shock for all of us,” said Brian O’Kraski, Massey’s social studies teacher at the Regional Alternative School in Bloomington. Massey transferred to RAS because of struggles keeping up academically at McLean County Unit 5 schools, said RAS Director Glen Hoffmann.

“He was positive to be around, had a smile on his face and was always singing a song,” O’Kraski said. “We just know him for who he was here. He was a good kid here.”

Massey first went to RAS, 408 W. Washington St., in February 2011 as a Kingsley Junior High School eighth-grader.

He “did a good job” finishing the semester at RAS and started Normal Community High School as a freshman, Hoffmann said.

He fell behind academically and returned to RAS in April 2012. This fall he was a sophomore at RAS and apparently was doing well.

Hoffmann described Massey as a “respectful young man with a smile on his face. He always treated staff and his peers with respect. I know Trae was well respected by his teaching team.”

O’Kraski described the boy as a helpful and bright student with an “A” in his class.

“Trae came to class and did what he was supposed to do,” the teacher said. “He was fun to be around. He seemed like a pretty normal 16-year-old.”

Nothing out of the ordinary happened on Friday, the last school day before Massey died, O’Kraski said. “That makes it even harder to understand and deal with,” he said.

Massey, who said he was considering enlisting in the military, talked about the importance of his family to him. “He wanted to be a role model to his little brother,” the teacher said.

School resumes Wednesday at RAS after Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a teachers institute day, and officials were preparing Tuesday to help the students cope with the loss.

“We will just do our job here to make sure kids can get through this and grieve,” O’Kraski said. “Kids are struggling to understand what happened – as much as we all are.”

Hoffmann said the RAS will have counselors on hand.

“We’ve never had to deal with this kind of tragedy here,” he said.

With no one in custody and the investigation continuing, authorities remain guarded on what information they release.

The coroner, for example, declined Tuesday to release the number and location of Massey’s wounds, noting “the circumstances of this suspicious shooting remain under investigation.”

Forensic toxicology tests have been ordered, she said, which is standard before a final cause of death is determined.

Anyone with information is asked to call Bloomington police detectives Matt Dick at 309-434-2475 or Jared Roth at 309-434-2379.

“The detectives are still gathering information from the interviews and trying to determine what happened,” police spokesman Dave White said Tuesday.

Witnesses called police about 2:48 p.m. Monday to report a disturbance and overhearing someone say that a person had been shot. Several people were seen carrying the victim to a car that sped away. Police met the vehicle at the hospital.

Kevin Barlow and Roger Miller contributed to this report.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/disturbance-reported-at-bloomington-apartments-before-teen-was-killed/article_2bd7231e-6423-11e2-ad95-001a4bcf887a.html

Bond set for teen charged in Bloomington shooting death
By Kevin Barlow and Edith Brady-Lunny | kbarlow@pantagraph.com eblunny@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON — After admiring a reportedly stolen handgun, 17-year-old Larron D. Carroll apparently was handing the .357 Magnum to his friend when it fired.

Kuantrae “Trae” Massey, 16, was shot once in the chest Jan. 21 at his Bloomington apartment and was dead about half an hour later.

That was the story that emerged from a prosecution statement offered in McLean County Court on Thursday in support of charges against Carroll, of Northfield Drive, Normal. Carroll faces counts of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery with a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful use of a stolen firearm.

He was jailed in lieu of posting $50,025 and is due in court for arraignment on Feb. 15.

A 16-year-old boy who reportedly drove Massey to the hospital but allegedly lied about his and Carroll’s involvement, was arrested on an initial charge of obstructing justice Wednesday, but no formal charges have been filed. He was released to his parents Wednesday.

Massey was shot about 2:48 p.m. inside his apartment, No. 5 at 2 Ginger Trail in the Danbury Court Apartments, and then driven to OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:19 p.m. in the emergency room.

About an hour before the shooting, Carroll was photographed with the gun, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Workman. One picture on Carroll’s cellphone, which was time-stamped at 1:52 p.m., showed Carroll pointing the handgun, later identified as a .357 Magnum, at a mirror, he said.

The pictures had been deleted, Workman said, but the images were still stored on the phone’s secure digital memory card.

Workman said Massey’s younger brother did not see what happened, but Carroll later admitted to the brother that he accidentally shot Massey as he was handing the gun to him.

McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling said the boy was shot near his heart. Forensic pathologist Dr. Scott Denton said in a report that he believes the shot was fired from at least 2 feet away.

Neighbors at the apartment complex told police they heard a shot and looked outside a few seconds later and saw Massey being loaded into the 16-year-old’s car and a subject matching the description of the 16-year-old.

The 16-year-old, however, told police he and Carroll were not at the scene at the time of the shooting, Workman said. The boy reportedly told police he and Carroll were together in north Normal when they received a call from Massey’s younger brother that said Massey had been shot. The 16-year-old told police he and Carroll then drove to Massey’s apartment and took him to the hospital.

“No evidence of receiving such a call was found on the phone,” Workman said.

Workman said Carroll initially told police that he, the 16-year-old and the Massey brothers were at the apartment. Massey said he would be back in a minute and then left the apartment barefoot, according to Carroll’s statement. Carroll said Massey was gone for five minutes when Carroll heard a boom and then Massey returned to the apartment and collapsed on the floor with a gunshot wound to the chest.

“When advised of (the 16-year-old’s) statement, Carroll then advised that (the 16-year-old) left the apartment before the shooting by himself, but immediately returned after Carroll called him and told him that Massey had been shot,” Workman said.

Crime scene investigators located a spent bullet in a couch pillow, Workman said. They also found property that was stolen from at least two different residences that had been burglarized, including one in the complex.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/bond-set-for-teen-charged-in-bloomington-shooting-death/article_77a50af8-6be0-11e2-ace6-001a4bcf887a.html

This does not appear to be a murder case now but one of involuntary manslaughter. The teen was shot by accident. They also appear to have been involved with burglaries. Though no charges are filed as yet for them. Sad that our local teen's are turning to crime and violence. William

I wonder if Massey would have lived had they not driven him to the hospital but had called 911 instead. That activity must have cost him a lot of blood.