OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma prosecutor is dropping a murder charge against a 15-year-old who was accused in the fatal shooting of another teenager at a high school football game.
A witness who identified the teenager as the shooter who killed 16-year-old Cordae Carter has recanted their identification of the teen, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna said in a statement Friday.
Behenna said the charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled and that she has asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for assistance in collecting evidence.
“Based on their investigation, charges can be refiled in the future since there is no statute of limitations for murder,” Behenna said.
Carter died after being shot in August during the Del City-Choctaw high school game in Choctaw on the eastern outskirts of Oklahoma City.
Two other people were wounded by gunfire as players and officials scrambled off the field and panicked spectators hunkered down in the stands. One was a 42-year-old man who Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said was shot by one of the two off-duty Del City officers who accompanied the Del City team to the game.
Both of those officers were placed on paid leave, Del City police Chief Loyd Berger said at the time. A Del City police spokesperson did not immediately return a message Saturday for comment on the status of the Del City officers.
Choctaw Police Chief Kelly Marshall said at the time that seven Choctaw police officers also were at the game.
