A South Florida teenager is in jail charged with kidnapping and killing a Fort Lauderdale real estate agent.
Henry Lee Lewis III, 15, is being held without bond following his arrest on second-degree murder and armed robbery charges in the shooting death of 37-year-old Stefano Barbosa.
Police say Lewis accosted Barbosa who was on his way to meet with tenants on February 1, Fox News reported.
The masked teen forced Barbosa to drive to a nearby bank at gunpoint and ordered him to withdraw $1,000 out of an ATM machine.
Barbosa made two separate $500 withdrawals, according to investigators who reviewed bank records.
After withdrawing the cash, Lewis allegedly ordered Barbosa to drive a few miles away and then shot him point blank in the chest.
The car swerved off the road, crashed through a fence and hit a tree. Lewis then fled on foot.
A resident heard the crash and called 911, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Police found Barbosa unresponsive in his car with a bullet wound to the chest.
School workers were able to identify Lewis from surveillance video, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Lewis was already in police custody on unrelated charges.
He has a lengthy criminal history dating back to a firearms charge when he was just 12, according to the news outlet.
The boy will be tried as an adult to ensure that he will not be released from a juvenile jail at age 18.
“These types of decisions are very difficult to make but I believe this is the correct decision in this case and in these circumstances,” Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a statement.
“This young person’s issues are so significant that they require treatment, help and services beyond what the juvenile justice system can provide at this time. If this case were to be handled as a juvenile matter, he would have to be released from the juvenile justice system at age 18.”
