Home Scandal and Gossip 2 suspects arrested in drive by shooting killing Tuscaloosa teen in bedroom

2 suspects arrested in drive by shooting killing Tuscaloosa teen in bedroom

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James Deanthony Reed (left) & Julian Lamont Gordon Jr
James Deanthony Reed (left) & Julian Lamont Gordon Jr arrested in drive by shooting of 13 year old teen boy, Kei'lan Allen.
James Deanthony Reed (left) & Julian Lamont Gordon Jr
James Deanthony Reed (left) & Julian Lamont Gordon Jr arrested in drive by shooting of 13 year old teen boy, Kei’lan Allen. Images via police bookings.

James Deanthony Reed & Julian Lamont Gordon Jr arrested in drive by shooting of Kei’lan Allen 13 year old teen boy after bullet entered bedroom window. 

Two suspects have been arrested in the drive-by shooting of a 13 year old Alabama teen boy who died after a bullet struck him through the bedroom window Friday night. 

James Deanthony Reed, 18, was charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Kei’lan Allen, 13, in Tuscaloosa, where investigators believe Reed was targeting one of the teen’s older relatives, police said late Sunday.

Come Monday, a second man was also arrested, Julian Lamont Gordon Jr, aged 21.

Reed was jailed without bond and investigators expect to make additional arrests in the case, police said in a statement. 

Officials indicated more arrests were likely. 

‘I don’t even think he heard the gunshots,’

‘This is an ongoing and active investigation,’ Tuscaloosa police said, ‘and we expect to make additional arrests soon.’

Relatives told AL.com Kei’lan — a straight A student — likely didn’t even hear the barrage of 13 bullets unleashed at his house, one of which entered through his bedroom window and struck him in the head, police said. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene.

‘I don’t even think he heard the gunshots,’ cousin Corey Prewitt told the outlet. ‘I’m pretty sure it was an AR pistol that hit his head.’

Kei’lan’s mother, Christina Barnes, called out for her only son after hearing the shots, but never heard him speak again, Prewitt said.

Kei'lan Allen Tuscaloosa Alabama teen
Pictured, Kei’lan Allen 13 year old Tuscaloosa Alabama teen boy shot dead in drive by shooting. James Deanthony Reed & Julian Lamont Gordon Jr arrested.

‘He wasn’t a street kid’

‘He didn’t answer after that, so she walked in the room and he was slumped over,’ Prewitt said. ‘She just grabbed him and was telling him, ‘I love you, I love you.’ An innocent child with a bullet hole in his head.’

Shell casings littered the street outside the boy’s home, police said – so many that investigators had to use business cards from their wallets to use as temporary evidence markers, police said.

‘Last night, our Chief of Police had to tell a mother and a father that their little boy was gone,’ Tuscaloosa police said in a statement early Saturday. ‘The parents and family of a 13-year-old boy had to stand across the street and watch paramedics drive the ambulance away after realizing there was nothing they could do.’

Kei’lan is survived by his parents, three sisters and a close-knit extended family, AL.com reported.

Prewitt said his studious late cousin was artistic and tech-savvy who kept dozens of books in his room. A dictionary was open next to him when the gunfire rang out, AL.com reported.

‘This was a very bright and smart young man, and they took his future away,’ Prewitt said. ‘He was at the safest place could be – at home. He wasn’t a street kid.’

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