Two football players from Aliquippa (Pa.) High School are facing murder charges in connection with the killing of a 16-year-old boy.
The players, Ronald “Reno” Foster Jr. and Deontae Jones, both 17, have been charged as adults in the Sept. 29 fatal shooting of Cade Booher.
“I’m not saying that any particular one of them pulled the trigger,” Aliquippa police Chief Don Couch told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Tuesday, but “in the course of the investigation, we obtained evidence that linked them to definitely having a hand in what went down.”
The third suspect, Lawrence Reddick, Jr., turned himself in Wednesday afternoon.
According to a release from the D.A.’s office to PennLive.com, a criminal complaint says Reddick, Foster and Jones conspired to rob Booher of marijuana and money. During the the robbery, Reddick fatally shot Booher in the head, the release said.
Police said the driver, Dane Mathesius, 18, of New Brighton, ran away and was found dead Tuesday in the backyard of a home on Irwin Street. It’s unclear how or when he died.
Mike Zmijanac, the longtime Aliquippa football coach and the school’s athletic director, called the arrests of his players “distressing.”
“First of all, I want to say my heart goes out to the families of all these kids, both the ones who got hurt and the ones who have been arrested,” Zmijanac told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Quite obviously, these were young men doing the wrong thing. You hear so much about these things going on, but when it hits close to you, it makes it even worse.”
Foster and Jones were charged with homicide, robbery and conspiracy, while Foster also was charged with criminal use of a communication facility.
Foster, an offensive lineman who transferred from Rochester High School, has seen considerable playing time this season. He started last Friday’s game against South Park, which Aliquippa won 52-15 to improve to 5-1. Jones, a running back and defensive back, is a backup who transferred this year from Ambridge High School. Zmijanac said he didn’t know either of the players very well.
“They seemed like typical kids for us, but who knows what’s going on when they’re not around the football program,” Zmijanac, last year’s Post-Gazette Coach of the Year, told the paper. “It’s distressing because they’re supposed to be just kids. It’s not supposed to be a grown-up world for them yet. Unfortunately, these are the ordeals of our society right now.”
News of the charges came on the same day as S.L. Price’s book about Aliquippa, including its steel industry and the Quips football program, titled “Playing Through The Whistle — Steel, Football and an American Town.”