A high school football star from Alabama has been charged with the murder of an 18-year-old.
Jesse Altman, a 17-year-old junior at Etowah High, was taken into custody on Wednesday over the shooting death of Aaron ‘A.J.’ Huff in Gadsden, north east of Birmingham, last week.
Altman and four other teenagers have all been charged with capital murder.
Jesse Altman, a 17-year-old junior at Etowah High, was taken into custody on Wednesday over the shooting death of Aaron ‘A.J.’ Huff in Gadsden, Alabama last week
Aaron Huff, 18, died after being shot on January 4 following a confrontation in a parking lot
Authorities say the shooting took place following an altercation in a parking lot at about 7.30pm on January 4.
Broderick Lawrence Pearson, 18, Lonterry Orlando Harrison, 17, Kalab Blake Whitworth, 16, and Tyler Michael Abbott, 17, were the others charged in the shooting death.
Altman is known in the area for being a standout on the high school’s football roster, the Gadsden Times reports.
He is a three-star, 285-pound defensive tackle recruit in the class of 2019.
Prior to his arrest, Altman reportedly already had several scholarship offers for several top American college football programs, including Texas, West Virginia, Oregon, Kentucky and Mississippi State.
Kalab Blake Whitworth, 16, and Tyler Michael Abbott, 17, were arrested last week following the fatal shooting
Broderick Lawrence Pearson, 18, and Lonterry Orlando Harrison, 17, were both arrested on Wednesday alongside Altman
Authorities have not revealed a motive for the shooting.
They believe that two of the boys – Abbott and Huff – were known to each other and met in the parking lot.
Following an altercation, both boys left the area in separate cars.
A short time later, the car Huff was a passenger in had stopped at an intersection when the gunman got out of the other vehicle and opened fire.
The person driving the car Huff was in rushed him to hospital but he later died.
Whitworth and Abbott were arrested and charged last week. The remaining three were jailed on Wednesday.
Altman is known in the area for being a standout on the high school’s football roster. He is a three-star, 285-pound defensive tackle recruit in the class of 2019